Polysaccharides in Biological News

Scientists discover how deadly fungus protects itself

... and reveal a new area of investigation into basic polysaccharide biology. polysaccharides are poorly understood, partly because of the difficulty of working with them. "Also, scientists have tended to view polysaccharides as boring molecules that simply grow to a specified length," says Dr. ...

A research work on molluscs nacre opens new doors for its possible use in biomedicine

... (nuculas, mussels, nacras, pearl oysters), which grow just like terraces of tablets. Nacre is made up of blocks of aragonite separated by membrans of polysaccharides and proteins, just like bricks and mortar in a wall. The scientist whi ve studied gastropods' nacre in detail, revealing that it grows in terraces ...

Our microbes, ourselves

... are coming off the highway." The methanogen offramps, by removing hydrogen, accelerate the efficient fermentation of otherwise indigestible plant polysaccharides and carbohydrates. The effect is to boost production of SCFAs, particularly acetate, which will be taken up by the intestinal epithelium and ...

SEX4, starch and phosphorylation

... in the lab or cook with it, we tend to think of it as an amorphous mass, but it is really a complex, ordered substance. Starch consists of two polysaccharides (polymers of the simple sugar glucose)--amylopectin and amylose. Both are long chains of connected glucose molecules, but amylopectin is also ...

ESF's workshop restores good name of sugar

... biological components such as protein complexes, that are recognised by the bodys own machinery for detecting foreign bodies. Complex sugars such as polysaccharides are core components of antigens, alongside lipids (fatty compounds) and proteins. These antigens in effect determine the outcome of an infectious ...

Green algae -- the nexus of plant/animal ancestry

... mating and sexual signaling. There are also numerous genes and gene families that relate to making sugars and polysaccharides, to use the sugars and polysaccharides to produce energy and to build a highly structured and efficient chloroplast, the factory where the cell harnesses the energy of sunlight. ...

Study involving more than 100 scientists provides new insights on green algae

... to those in animals. There are also numerous genes and gene families that relate to making sugars and polysaccharides, to using the sugars and polysaccharides to produce energy, and to building a highly structured and efficient chloroplast, the factory where the cell harnesses the energy of sunlight. The ...

Gut microbes' partnership helps body extract energy from food, store it as fat

... sugars known as polysaccharides. Many types of polysaccharides pass through the small intestine mostly unchanged ... wondered whether it also affected which types of polysaccharides are most coveted by intestinal bacteria. ... shifting its appetite to a more abundant class of polysaccharides known as fructans. Commonly found in Western ...

Discovery of new molecular tools for biosynthesis could lead to advances in use of pectin

... little about how this family of complex polysaccharides is made. Especially perplexing has been how the synthesis of the three different classes of pectic polysaccharides is coordinated to produce the pectin matrix in ... that synthesizes pectin, a family of complex polysaccharides present in the cell walls of all land plants, ...

DOE JGI finishes 100th microbial genome

... pathway to do the job. This microbe, while isolated from a fresh water mud sample, also lives in the rumen of cattle where cellulose and other polysaccharides are digested. "We are delighted that the DOE JGI's 100th genome is a microorganism that one of our UMBI faculty members has been studying to ...

Heparin prepared synthetically could replace animal-derived drug

... were published Jan. 13, 2006, in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication in a paper titled "Enzymatic synthesis of heparin related polysaccharides on sensor chips: Rapid screening of heparin-protein interactions." Linhardt collaborated on the interdisciplinary project with Jian Liu, ...

A slight difference and significant similarities

... plants such as chicory, artichokes and dandelions. Two different genes for the formation of inulin sugars were introduced into the potato as these polysaccharides have a beneficial effect on human intestinal flora and are therefore a very desirable nutritional component. Potatoes containing inulin were ...

Deep thinking: Scientists sequence a cold-loving marine microbe

... of duplicated genes important to cell membrane biosynthesis. What's more, C. psychrerythraea dresses in layers, generating plenty of extracellular polysaccharides (sugars) that coat cell membranes. Aside from its cellular outerwear, C. psychrerythraea generates a range of potential cold-protective compounds. ...