Preliminary data on the polysaccharide composition of mycelium of the fungus Cunninghamella japonica (synonymous with C. echinulata) grown by the method of submerged cultivation were obtained. Mild acidic hydrolysis of mycelium resulted in the formation of glucose, mannose, and galactose; while the treatment with acid under drastic conditions afforded glucosamine as a product of hydrolysis of chitin and chitosan, their total content was about 35%. Several polysaccharide fractions were isolated from mycelium by successive extraction with hot water, 2% aqueous NaOH, and 10% AcOH; their monosaccharide composition was characterized. The yield of chitosan extracted with AcOH was insignificant. Additional purification of the fraction obtained after extraction with alkali afforded polysaccharide which was a linear (1→3)-α-D-glucopyranan according to the data of NMR spectroscopy and the chemical methods of structural analysis. The presence of this polysaccharide, as well as a low content of chitosan and polyuronides, distinguishes the studied strain C. japonica from most of the known Mucorales.

polysaccharides, Cunninghamella japonica, (1→3)-α-D-glucopyranan

NCBI PubMed ID: 22792730
Publication DOI: 10.1134/S1068162012020021
Journal NLM ID: 9420101
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media
Correspondence: usovioc.ac.ru
Institutions: Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, Vinogradsky Institute of Microbiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Methods: 13C NMR, methylation, acid hydrolysis, GLC, extraction, optical rotation measurement, Lowry method
 

• Compound ID: 13319
  

  -3)-a-D-Glcp-(1-

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  Structure type: homopolymer
  Trivial name: D-rhamnan, α-1,3-D-glucan, α-1,3-glucan, (1-3)-α-Glucan, 1-3-α-glucan, α-(1,3)-glucan, α-(1,3)glucan, (1-3)-α-glucan, pseudonigeran, α-(1,3)-glucan, pseudonigeran, water-insoluble α-D-glucan (TM-I)
  Compound class: EPS, O-polysaccharide, cell wall polysaccharide, glucan, polysaccharide, D-glucan
  Reference(s) to other database(s): GTC:G02177KX, CCSD:49417, CBank-STR:17683, GenDB:HM245773
  
   
  
  Cunninghamella japonica VKM F-1204 (-)
  CSDB ID 43781 (all data & tools)