An oligosaccharide is a saccharide A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the general formula Cmn, that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with the last two in the 2:1 atom ratio. Carbohydrates can be viewed as hydrates of carbon, hence their name. Structurally however, it is more accurate to view them as polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones polymer A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. While polymer in popular usage suggests plastic, the term actually refers to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a wide variety of properties containing a small number (typically three to ten[1]) of component sugars, also known as simple sugars (monosaccharides) Monosaccharides are the most basic units of biologically important carbohydrates. They are the simplest form of sugar and are usually colorless, water-soluble, crystalline solids. Some monosaccharides have a sweet taste. Examples of monosaccharides include glucose (dextrose), fructose (levulose), galactose, xylose and ribose. Monosaccharides are. The name is derived from the Greek word oligos, meaning "a few", and from the Latin/Greek word sacchar which means "sugar". Oligosaccharides can have many functions; for example, they are commonly found on the plasma membrane of animal cells where they can play a role in cell-cell recognition.
They are generally found either O- or N-linked In chemistry, a glycosidic bond is a type of functional group that joins a carbohydrate molecule to another group, which may or may not be another carbohydrate to compatible amino acid side chains Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side chain that varies between different amino acids. These molecules contain the key elements of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula in proteins Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and folded into a globular form. The amino acids in a polymer are joined together by the peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues. The sequence of amino acids in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded or to lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins , monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The main biological functions of lipids include energy storage, as structural components of cell membranes, and as important signaling molecules moieties In organic chemistry, functional groups are specific groups of atoms within molecules that are responsible for the characteristic chemical reactions of those molecules. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reaction regardless of the size of the molecule it is a part of. However, its relative reactivity can be (see glycans The term glycan refers to a polysaccharide or oligosaccharide. Glycan may also be used to refer to the carbohydrate portion of a glycoconjugate, such as a glycoprotein, glycolipid, or a proteoglycan. Glycans usually consist solely of O-glycosidic linkages of monosaccharides. For example, cellulose is a glycan composed of beta-1,4-linked D-glucose,).
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Examples
Fructo-oligosaccharides Fructooligosaccharides also sometimes called oligofructose or oligofructan, is a class of oligosaccharides used as an artificial or alternative sweetener. FOS exhibits sweetness levels between 30 and 50 percent of sugar in commercially-prepared syrups. It occurs naturally, and its commercial use emerged in the 1980s in response to consumer demand (FOS), which are found in many vegetables, consist of short chains of fructose Fructose is a simple monosaccharide found in many foods and is one of the three important dietary monosaccharides along with glucose and galactose. The organic fructose molecule was first discovered by Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1847. Fructose is a white solid that dissolves in water – it is the most water-soluble of all the sugars. Honey, molecules. (Inulin Inulins are a group of naturally occurring polysaccharides produced by many types of plants. They belong to a class of fibers known as fructans. Inulin is used by some plants as a means of storing energy and is typically found in roots or rhizomes. Most plants that synthesize and store inulin do not store other materials such as starch has a much higher degree of polymerization The degree of polymerization, or DP, is the number of repeat units in an average polymer chain at time t in a polymerization reaction . The length is in monomer units. The degree of polymerization is a measure of molecular weight . For most industrial purposes, lengths in the thousands or tens of thousands are desired than FOS and is a polysaccharide.) Galactooligosaccharides Galacto-oligosaccharides , also known as oligogalactosyllactose, oligogalactose, oligolactose or transgalactooligosacchariden (TOS), belong, because of their indigestible nature, to the group of prebiotics. Prebiotics are defined as non-digestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by stimulating the growth and/or activity of (GOS), which also occur naturally, consist of short chains of galactose Galactose is a type of sugar that is less sweet than glucose. It is considered a nutritive sweetener because it has food energy. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek word for milk, γάλακτος (galaktos). It is an epimer of glucose molecules. These compounds can be only partially digested by humans.
Oligosaccharides are often found as a component of glycoproteins Glycoproteins are proteins that contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to polypeptide side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycosylation. In proteins that have segments extending extracellularly, the extracellular segments are often or glycolipids Glycolipids are carbohydrate-attached lipids. Their role is to provide energy and also serve as markers for cellular recognition and as such are often used as chemical markers, often for cell recognition. An example is ABO blood type A blood type is a classification of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins, or glycolipids, depending on the blood group system. Some of these antigens are also present on the surface of other types of cells of specificity. A and B blood types have two different oligosaccharide glycolipids embedded in the cell membranes The cell membrane is one biological membrane separating the interior of a cell from the outside environment of the red blood cells, AB-type blood has both, while O blood type has neither.
Mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS) are widely used in animal feed Compound feeds are feedstuffs that are blended from various raw materials and additives. These blends are formulated according to the specific requirements of the target animal. They are manufactured by feed compounders as meal type, pellets or crumbles to encourage gastrointestinal health and performance. They are normally obtained from the yeast cell walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of budding yeast. It is perhaps the most useful yeast owing to its use since ancient times in baking and brewing. It is believed that it was originally isolated from the skins of grapes . It is one of the most intensively studied eukaryotic model organisms in molecular and cell biology, much like Escherichia. Some brand names are: CitriStim, Bio-Mos, SAF-Mannan, Y-MOS and Celmanax.
Therapeutic effects
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When oligosaccharides are consumed, the undigested portion serves as food for the intestinal microflora Gut flora consists of microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts of animals, and is the largest reservoir of human flora. "Gut" is synonymous with intestinal and "flora" with microbiota and microflora. Depending on the type of oligosaccharide, different bacterial groups are stimulated or suppressed.
Clinical studies have shown that administering FOS, GOS, or inulin can increase the number of these friendly bacteria The bacteria ( [bækˈtɪəriə] ; singular: bacterium)[α] are a large group of single-celled, prokaryote microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. Bacteria are ubiquitous in every habitat on Earth, growing in soil, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, in the colon while simultaneously reducing the population of harmful bacteria.[2]
Sources
FOS and inulin are found naturally in Jerusalem artichoke The Jerusalem artichoke , also called the sunroot or sunchoke or earth apple or topinambur, is a species of sunflower native to the eastern United States, from Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas. It is also cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable, burdock Burdock is any of a group of biennial thistles in the genus Arctium, family Asteraceae. Native to the Old World, several species have been widely introduced worldwide, chicory Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a bushy perennial herbaceous plant with blue, lavender, or occasionally white flowers. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons , or for roots (var. sativum), which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also grown as a forage crop for livestock. It lives as a, leeks The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to the Alliaceae family. Two related vegetables, the elephant garlic and kurrat, are also variant subspecies of Allium ampeloprasum, although different in their uses as food, onions Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa. Allium cepa is also known as the "garden onion" or "bulb" onion. Above ground, the onion shows only a single vertical shoot; the bulb grows underground,, and asparagus Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable. A flowering perennial plant species in the genus Asparagus in the lily family, like its allium cousins, onions and garlic, it is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. and is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop. FOS products derived from chicory root contain significant quantities of inulin, a fiber widely distributed in fruits, vegetables and plants. Inulin is a significant part of the daily diet of most of the world’s population. FOS can also be synthesized by enzymes of the fungus Aspergillus niger Aspergillus niger is a fungus and one of the most common species of the genus Aspergillus. It causes a disease called black mold on certain fruits and vegetables such as grapes, onions, and peanuts, and is a common contaminant of food. It is ubiquitous in soil and is commonly reported from indoor environments, where its black colonies can be acting on sucrose. GOS is naturally found in soybeans The soybean or soya bean (UK) (Glycine max) is a species of legume native to East Asia. The plant is classed as an oilseed rather than a pulse. It is an annual plant that has been used in China for 5,000 years to primarily add nitrogen into the soil as part of crop rotation and can be synthesized from lactose Lactose is a sugar that is found most notably in milk. Lactose makes up around 2~8% of milk , although the amount varies among species and individuals. It is extracted from sweet or sour whey. The name comes from lac, the Latin word for milk, plus the -ose ending used to name sugars. It has a formula of C12H22O11 (milk sugar). FOS, GOS, and inulin are available as nutritional supplements in capsules, tablets, and as a powder.
Not all natural oligosaccharides occur as components of glycoproteins or glycolipids. Some, such as the raffinose Raffinose is a trisaccharide composed of galactose, fructose, and glucose. It can be found in beans, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, other vegetables, and whole grains. Raffinose can be hydrolyzed to D-galactose and sucrose by the enzyme α-galactosidase , an enzyme not found in the human digestive tract. α-GAL also hydrolyzes series, occur as storage or transport carbohydrates A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the general formula Cmn, that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with the last two in the 2:1 atom ratio. Carbohydrates can be viewed as hydrates of carbon, hence their name. Structurally however, it is more accurate to view them as polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones in plants. Others, such as maltodextrins Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food additive. It is produced from starch by partial hydrolysis and is usually found as a creamy-white hygroscopic spraydried powder. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose, and might be either moderately sweet or almost flavorless. It is commonly used for the or cellodextrins, result from the microbial breakdown of larger polysaccharides Polysaccharides are polymeric carbohydrate structures, formed of repeating units joined together by glycosidic bonds. These structures are often linear, but may contain various degrees of branching. Polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous, containing slight modifications of the repeating unit. Depending on the structure, these macromolecules such as starch Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store. It is the most important carbohydrate in the human diet and is contained in such staple foods as potatoes, wheat, maize , rice, and cassava or cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula n, a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β(1→4) linked D-glucose units.
See also
- Oligosaccharide synthesis
- Oligosaccharide Nomenclature
- Polysaccharide Polysaccharides are polymeric carbohydrate structures, formed of repeating units joined together by glycosidic bonds. These structures are often linear, but may contain various degrees of branching. Polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous, containing slight modifications of the repeating unit. Depending on the structure, these macromolecules
References
- ^ MeSH Medical Subject Headings is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences; it can also serve as a thesaurus that facilitates searching. Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is used by the MEDLINE/PubMed article database and by NLM's Oligosaccharides
- ^ Macfarlane GT, Steed H. and Macfarlane S. (2008). "Bacterial metabolism and health-related effects of galacto-oligosaccharides and other prebiotics". J. Appl. Microbiol. 104 (2): 305–344. doi A digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an electronic document or other object. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found. The DOI for a document is permanent, whereas its location and other metadata:10.1111/j.1365-2672.2007.03520.x. PMID A PMID is a unique number assigned to each PubMed citation of life sciences and biomedical scientific journal articles. The related Pubmed Central archive may additionally assign a separate number, a PMCID (PubMed Central Identifier), normally written with a PMC prefix 18215222.
Categories: Oligosaccharides | Nutrition | Sweeteners | Carbohydrate chemistry
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Food Product Design, IL
Although human milk contains a large variety of oligosaccharides (HMOs) that might modulate gut flora, aid gastrointestinal health and influence inflammatory processes, the amount of similar oligosaccharides in milk of most animal species is low. ...
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Q. A. they include fermentable fiber B. they include oligosaccharides C. they include edible microorganisms D. they will cause the production of short chain fatty acids
Asked by bravofolch - Thu Feb 12 19:01:34 2009 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
A. The answer is C. Fermentable fiber causes the production of fatty acid chains and Oligosaccharides are definitely prebiotics. 100% sure. Peace.
Answered by Brian - Thu Feb 12 19:21:25 2009
