pectins and diferulic-acid

In plants belonging to the order of Caryophyllales, pectic neutral side chains can be substituted with ferulic acid. The ability of ferulic acid to form intra- and/or intermolecular polysaccharide cross-links by dimerization was shown by the isolation and characterization of diferulic acid oligosaccharides from monocotyledonous plants. In this study, two diferulic acid oligosaccharides were isolated from the enzymatic hydrolyzate of seeds of the dicotyledonous pseudocereal quinoa by gel permeation chromatography and preparative HPLC and unambiguously identified by LC-MS(2) and 1D/2D NMR spectroscopy. The isolated oligosaccharides are comprised of 5-5- and 8-O-4-diferulic acid linked to the O2-position of the nonreducing residue of two (1→5)-linked arabinobioses. To get insight into the structure and the degree of phenolic acid substitution of the diferuloylated polysaccharides, polymeric sugar composition, glycosidic linkages, and polysaccharide-bound monomeric phenolic acids and diferulic acids were analyzed. This study demonstrates that diferulic acids are involved into intramolecular and/or intermolecular cross-linking of arabinan chains and may have a major impact on cell wall architecture of quinoa and other dicotyledonous plants of the order of Caryophyllales.

Topics: Bolivia; Cell Wall; Chenopodium quinoa; Cinnamates; Coumaric Acids; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; Pectins; Polysaccharides; Seeds

Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis (Burman f.) Trin ex Henschel) is a corm consumed globally in Oriental-style cuisine. The corm consists of three main tissues, the epidermis, subepidermis, and parenchyma; the cell walls of which were analyzed for sugar, phenolic, and lignin content. Sugar content, measured by gas chromatography, was higher in the parenchyma cell walls (931 μg/mg) than in the subepidermis (775 μg/mg) or epidermis (685 μg/mg). The alkali-extractable phenolic content, measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, was greater in the epidermal (32.4 μg/mg) and subepidermal cell walls (21.7 μg/mg) than in the cell walls of the parenchyma (12.3 μg/mg). The proportion of diferulic acids was higher in the parenchyma. The Klason lignin content of epidermal and subepidermal cell walls was ~15%. Methylation analysis of Chinese water chestnut cell-wall polysaccharides identified xyloglucan as the predominant hemicellulose in the parenchyma for the first time, and also a significant pectin component, similar to other nongraminaceous monocots.

Topics: Carbohydrates; Cell Wall; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Coumaric Acids; Eleocharis; Glucans; Lignin; Magnoliopsida; Pectins; Phenols; Plant Epidermis; Polysaccharides; Xylans