Legumes oligosaccharides

N. P. J. Price and R. W. Carlson, Rhizobial lipo-oligosaccharide nodulation factors multidimensional chromatographic analysis of. symbiotic signals involved in the development of legume root nodules, Glycobiology 5 233 (1995). 

Some legumes and dry beans contain considerable quantities of oligosaccharides which cannot be adequately digested by man because we lack appropriate digestive enzymes. Cramps,... 

Evidence for roles of sulfated oligosaccharides in peptide hormone half-life, symbiont interactions in nitrogen-fixing legumes, and lymphocyte homing. 

Members of the raffinose family of oligosaccharides are present in appreciable concentrations in the nutritionally important food-legumes these are known to cause flatulence in man and other animals. Blair and coworkers144" quantitated the production of flatus in man,... 

Occurrence in plants used for human and animal food is very common, so the raffinose oligosaccharides may be of some nutritional significance. For example, the seeds of food legumes often contain raffinose in amounts equal to or greater than the amounts of sucrose. Cottonseed and soybean meals (after oil extraction) are fairly rich in raffinose and stachyose, respectively.80 86... 

The plentiful occurrence of these galactomannans in certain members of the legume family, and the widespread (perhaps universal) distribution of the raffinose oligosaccharides in legumes, make it tempting to suggest that there may be a close biogenetic relationship between these two types of saccharide. 

---