Sugar profile of extracellular polysaccharides from different Tremella species

Heteropolysaccharides isolated from liquid cultures of Tremella species were derivatised to alditol acetates and identified by GLC against derivatised sugar standards. From the sugar profiles it was evident that all of the polysaccharides contained essentially the same sugars but in different ratios. Some of the polysaccharides contained the five carbon sugars-fucose, ribose, xylose and arabinose together with six carbon sugars-mannose, galactose and glucose. The uronic acid content of Tremella heteropolysaccharides also varied according to species. In addition, carbon source (arabinose, xylose, glucose, fructose and galactose) affected the sugar (including uronic acid content) ratio within the polysaccharides.