Complex heteroxylans

The heteroxylans (CHX) present in cereals, seeds, gum exudates, and mucilages are structurally more complex [6]. They have a (1 4)-)0-d-xylopyranose backbone decorated, except of the single uronic acid and arabinosyl residues with various mono- and oligoglycosyl side chains. Reinvestigations of CHX isolated from corn bran [52] have confirmed that the xylan backbone is heavily substituted (at both positions 2 and 3) with y0-D-Xylp, y0-L-Ara/, of-D-GlcpA residues and oligosaccharide side chains (1), (3) and (4). 

Several CHX samples were isolated from the leaves and barks of tropical dicots such as the Litsea species [3]. The mucilage-forming seeds of Plantago sp. contain very complex heteroxylans [53,54]. For the CHX from Plantago major seeds [53], a (1 3, 1 - 4)-mixed-linkage xylan backbone has 

In contrast to the former Plantago CHX [55], the gel-forming CHX from psyllium (Plantago ovata) husks [54] was found to be a neutral, highly branched arabinoxylan with the (1 4)-j8-D-xylopyranose backbone substituted at position 2 with single Xylp units and at position 3 with the trisaccharide moiety (7). 

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The specificity of a xylanase preparation may be determined from the isolation and characterization of oligosaccharides formed from xylan hydrolysis. While the oligosaccharides released were mainly dependent on the specificity of the xylanase, the complex structure of the heteroxylan also determines the extent of hydrolysis and the site of cleavage. Two types of xylooligosaccharides are usually produced acidic (from glucuronoxylans) and neutral (from arabino- and arabinoglucurono-xylans). The specificity of the action of several purified xylanases on various heteroxylans is shown below ... 

Wagner et al. 33) have shown that two distinct polysaccharide fractions from Echinacea purpurea exhibited pronounced activities characterized by a high rate of phagocytosis stimulation. One polysaccharide was shown to be a heteroxylan of molecular weight 35000 and an arabinorhamnogalactan of molecular weight 450000. The main characteristics of these polysaccharides from Echinacea were the optimal solubility in water, the high content of uronic acids, and the very complex structure. 

The complete degradation of hemicellulose becomes more complex than that of cellulase, since substituent-hydrolyzing activities are also necessary. With heteroxylans, apart from endo-l,4- 3-xylanase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of internal 3-l,4-xylan links and P-xylosidase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of xylooligossacharides, mainly xylobiose into xylose, other enzymes must act to accomplish complete hydrolysis, such as acetyl xylan esterase, a-glucuronidase, and a-L-arabinofuranosidase (1). 

Hemicelluloses present in a wood fibre are exposed to the cellulolytic complex of enzymes by the action of different xylanases, which catalyse the hydrolysis of the xylose backbone of heteroxylan chains layered on the heteroxylan microfibrills. The xylanases act at random locations on the heteroxylan chains that have themselves become exposed by the action of the action of the various debranching enzymes, as presented in Fig. 4.12. 

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