Galactomannans function

Evans, A.J. Hood, R.L. Oakenfull, D.G. Sidhu, G.S. (1992). Relationship between structure and function of dietary fibre a comparative study of the effects of three galactomannans on cholesterol metabolism in the rat. British Journal of Nutrition, Vol.68, No.l, (July 1992), pp. 217-229, ISSN 0007-1145. 

The main function of D-galactomannans in seeds is as reserve polysaccharides that are depleted during germination. The a-D-galactosyl stubs of the polysaccharide provide hydrophilic character to the molecule, thus endowing it with a water-retaining capacity this facilitates germination of the seed. 

Mitchell, J. R., Reed, J., Hill, S. E., and Rogers, E. (1991). Systems to prevent loss of functionality on heat treatment of galactomannans. Food HydrocoU. 5 141-143. 

Seed galactomannans appear to have a double physiological function. Firstly, they retain water by solvation (see Ref. 43 for details on gel formation), and thereby prevent (in regions having high atmospheric temperatures) complete drying of the seeds which... 

Amination can be achieved by reductive amination of carboxyl groups using sodium cyano-borohydride [124]. By this method, 2-amino-2-deoxy functionalized amylose and cellulose have been produced. Reductive amination can also be applied to the synthesis of other amino derivatives of various oxidized polysaccharides such us xanthan [125] or alginic acid and galactomannans [126]. 

FIGURE 28.4 The chemical structure of a typical galactomannan. (From Builders, P.F. and Attama, A.A., Functional properties of biopolymers for drug delivery applications, in Biodegradable Materials, Johnson, B.M. and Berkel, Z.E., Eds., Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York. Copyright 2011, with permission from Nova Science Publishers, Inc.)... 

Wu Y., Li W., Cui W., Eskin N. A. M., Goff H. D. 2012. A molecular modeling approach to understand conformation functionality relationships of galactomannans with different mannose/galactose ratios. Food... 

Fig. 26. Persistence length of galactomannan (for G/M = 1) as a function of the degree of polymerization x. Loo is equal to 9.6 nm. Reproduced from Ref. 47, with permission from Elsevier (Copyright 2003).

In another study, lipase functionalized guar gum nanoparticles in the size range 19-32 nm were prepared by nanoprecipitation and crosslinking method for drug delivery applications. It was found that the formation of nanoparticles depends upon the molecular mass of the galactomannan, solvent, surfactant, crosslinker and agitation. In this work, the efficacy of the drug release on the GG nanocarrier was demonstrated... 

Interest in the genetic engineering of both plants and micro-organisms for the production of tailor made amylose, amylopectin and/or starches has also been reported. Furthermore, investigations on the enzymatic modification of starch and its major components, for example the introduction of additional branches composed of glucose and/or other monosaccharides and/or uronic acids as well as amino acids or peptides, to produce carbohydrates of possibly comparable functionality to galactomannans, pectin, gum arable, etc., has been initiated. Also studies on the metabolic fate of carbohydrates in food, the biosynthesis of starch, the fine structure of starch from different sources, the effect of electrolytes on the gelatinization of starch and the development of enzymic methods for starch analyses are still active. 

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