Polysaccharide ribbon-forming

This paper is a preliminary communication of some more recent investigations of the specificity of the interactions between the two series of helix forming polysaccharides and four series of (31,4-1 inked ribbon-forming polysaccharides. 

Table 1 lists the four series of ribbon-forming (31,4-1 inked polysaccharides used in the study. For each of these a number of variants, differing in the pattern of specific substitution and modification, were used. The interaction of agarose and x-carrageenan with each of these series of ribbonforming polysaccharides will now be discussed in turn. 

Figure 2 Schematic representation of cellulose synthesis from Acetobacter xylinus (not to scale). Microfibrils of cellulose are secreted into the fermentation medium via terminal complex transmembrane synthetic sites. In the extracellular medium, a number of elementary microfibrils coalesce to form a flat, twisting and highly persistent ribbon of cellulose. The presence of polysaccharides in the fermentation medium allows interactions to occur both before and after the assembly of microfibrils into ribbons. The right angle bend at the point of ribbon assembly is purely schematic...

Fig. 4. Aggregates formed in a three-component, colloidal system [24], Refractory (fulvic-like) organic matter (ROM) is represented by small dots, inorganic colloids (IC) by larger, shaded spheres and fibriUar polymers (FP) by ribbons. In addition to small (submicron) and larger (> 1 mm) aggregates, refractory organic matter and fibrillar polysaccharides can also form gels [78] where inorganic colloids can develop internally after condensation...

---