1. A highly dextrorotatory polysaccharide (α(D)+232° in N-sodium hydroxide), previously isolated as a fragment of Aspergillus niger cell walls, was prepared from whole mycelium and subjected to partial acid hydrolysis. 2. Fractionation of the hydrolysate on a charcoal column with a linear gradient of ethanol yielded a series of oligosaccharides. The disaccharide member was shown to be nigerose (3-O-α-d-glucopyranosyl-α-d-glucopyranose), although a small proportion of the disaccharide peak (10%) was present as maltose despite the fact that all the nigeran had been removed from the starting material. 3. The oligosaccharides forming the main peaks from the column were shown to be members of a polymer-homologous series (nigerodextrins) by (a) the relationship between the logarithm of their chromatographic mobility and degree of polymerization, (b) obeying the Freudenberg relationship, and (c) partial acid hydrolysis.
cell wall, Aspergillus niger, nigeran
NCBI PubMed ID: 5862405Publication DOI: 10.1042/bj0960659Journal NLM ID: 2984726RPublisher: London, UK : Published by Portland Press on behalf of the Biochemical Society
Institutions: Department of Biochemistry, University College London, London, UK
Methods: acid hydrolysis, paper chromatography, optical rotation measurement, acetylation, paper electrophoresis, reduction, column chromatography, cell growth, precipitation