Dahlia tubers, inulin from

Dahlia tubers, inulin from, II, 254 Dambonitol, III, 46 Damson gum, I, 343 IV, 246, 247 structure of, IV, 253 blood group activity of, IV, 50, 52 Deamination, mechanism of, II, 62 Degradation, of acylated nitriles of al-donic acids, IV, 119-151 of aldonic acids, III, 149 of aldose sugars, I, 254 enzymatic, of starch and glycogen, III, 251-310... 

Owing to its great sweetness and high utilizability in the body, D-fruc-tose has been of special interest in nutrition for many decades. In the first quarter of this century, a large demand for this ketose was predicted if economical methods could be developed for its production. In addition to sucrose, many plants store the sugar in their tubers in the form of fruc-tosans, of which inulin is the most common. Fructose can be prepared (p. 96) most conveniently from dahlia tubers and from Jerusalem artichokes, but the yield from the latter is not as favorable as from the former. Acid hydrolysis is commonly employed to liberate the fructose. 

Drent, W.J. and Gottschal, J.C., Fermentation of inulin by a new strain of Clostridium thermoautotrophicum isolated from dahlia tubers, FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 78, 285-292, 1991. 

Polysaccharides that exclusively contain D-fructose are known as fructans and there are two known kinds, inulin and levan. Inulin is a polysaccharide containing -D-fructofuranose linked (2 1) [118]. Inulins are found in the roots and tubers of the family of plants known as the Compositae, which includes asters, dandelions, dahlias, cosmos, burdock, goldenrod, chicory, lettuce, and Jerusalem artichokes. Other sources are from the Liliacae family, which includes lily bulbs, onion, hyacinth, and tulip bulbs. Inulins are also produced by certain species of algae [119]. Several bacterial strains of Streptococcus mutans also produce an extracellular inulin from sucrose [120]. 

Inulin, Dahlin alantin alant starch. Mol wt approx 5000. Polysaccharide of Compositae which partially or completely replaces starch as a reserve food. Isoln from dahlia tubers McDonald, "Polyfructosans and Difructose Anhydrides" in Advan. Carbohyd. Chem. vol. 2, 254 (1946) from Jerusalem artichoke tubers Bacon, Edelman, Biochem. J. 48, 114 (1951). Structure E. G. V. Percival. Structural Carbohydrate Chemistry (J. Garnet Miller, London, 2nd ed., 1962) p 274. 

Fructans occur naturally, are predominantly found in plants, fungi, and are produced extra-cellularly by bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans [13]. Plants are the most likely source of inulin for the production of material to be incorporated into foodstuffs due to its abundance in plants and also from a safety perspective. Inulin is found in the tubers and roots of the plant family Compositae which includes aster, dandelion, dahlias, comos, burdock, goldenrod, chicory, lettuce, and Jerusalem artichoke [14,15]. Van Loo et al. [16] identified the quantity of inulin in various plants as well as their degree of polymerization (O Table 3). An extensive review of occurrence and distribution of fructans in nature is provided [16,17,18]. 

Inulin is extracted from the tubers of Dahlia variabilis, Helianthus, in a procedure similar to the extraction of sugar from sugar beet. 

Inulin Extracted from the tubers of Dahlia variabihs, Helianthus Binder... 

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