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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Structural Characterization of Mannan Cell Wall Polysaccharides in Plants Using PACE
Published on: October 16, 2017
Tailormade Polysaccharides with Defined Branching Patterns: Enzymatic Polymerization of Arabinoxylan Oligosaccharides
Deborah Senf1,2, Colin Ruprecht1, Saina Kishani3,4
1Department of Biomolecular Systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany.
Abstract:
The heterogeneous nature of non-cellulosic polysaccharides, such as arabinoxylan, makes it difficult to correlate molecular structure with macroscopic properties. To study the impact of specific structural features of the polysaccharides on crystallinity or affinity to other cell wall components, collections of polysaccharides with defined repeating units are required. Herein, a chemoenzymatic approach to artificial arabinoxylan polysaccharides with systematically altered branching patterns is described. The polysaccharides were obtained by glycosynthase-catalyzed polymerization of glycosyl fluorides derived from arabinoxylan oligosaccharides. X-ray diffraction and adsorption experiments on cellulosic surfaces revealed that the physicochemical properties of the synthetic polysaccharides strongly depend on the specific nature of their substitution patterns. The artificial polysaccharides allow structure-property relationship studies that are not accessible by other means.
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