A Brief and Informationally Rich Naming System for Oligosaccharide Motifs of Heteroxylans Found in Plant Cell Walls

Abstract

The one-letter code system proposed here is a simple method to accurately describe structurally diverse oligosaccharides derived from heteroxylans. Substitutions or ‘molecular decoration(s)’ of main-chain d-xylosyl moieties are designated by unique letters. Hence, an oligosaccharide is described by a series of single letters, beginning with the non-reducing d-xylosyl unit. Superscripted numbers are used to indicate the linkage position(s) of main-chain substitution(s) and, where necessary, superscripted lowercase letter(s) indicate the nature of non-glycosidic groups (e.g., methyl, acetyl, or phenolic derivative moieties) that can be present on the substituents. Although relatively simple and practical to use, this abbreviated system lends itself to the naming of a large number of different combinations of structural building blocks and substituents. In its present state, this system is, therefore, adequate to name and differentiate all currently known complex oligosaccharides derived from heteroxylans and is sufficiently flexible to accommodate new structures as they become available.

Changes in the arabinoxylan fraction of wheat grain during alcohol production

“…Chromeleon 7 software (Thermo Scientific) was used to interpret the chromatograms. The percentage of each oligosaccharide originating from the fingerprinted AX (for nomenclature used see Fauré et al, 2009), the percentages of xylose, 3- and 2-linked arabinose, as well as total arabinosylation and the arabinose:xylose ratio were calculated. The% arabinosylation was calculated using the full fingerprint data (Table S1).…”

The molecular basis of the adsorption of xylans on cellulose surface

“…The four fragments were: (1) an unsubstituted xylopentaose fragment, denoted X 5 , following the recently proposed nomenclature (Faure et al 2009), (2) an a-L-arabinofuranosyl linked at O 3 of the 3rd xylose residue (counted from the non reducing end) and named XXA 3 XX, (3) an a-D-glucosyluronic acid 4-O-Me in the neutral form on the O 2 of the same xylose residue, named XXG 2 XX, (4) both a-L-arabinofuranosyl and a-D-glucosyluronic acid 4-O-Me on two consecutive skeletal xyloses, named XA 3 G 2 XX. Despite the gigantic number of potential chemical structures in xylans, this first study was limited to these four idealized fragments.…”

Negative electrospray ionization mass spectrometry: a method for sequencing and determining linkage position in oligosaccharides from branched hemicelluloses

“…(a) Chemical structure and fragmentation routes of the presumed D 3–4 m / z 455 fragment ion from XXLG oligomer; (b) negative‐ion ESI‐LTQ Orbitrap CID MS mass spectrum of D 3–4 m / z 455 fragment ion; this ion denoted D 3–4 is due to double cleavage on the right of the glycosidic oxygen of linkages number 3 and number 4 of XXLG molecule, counted from the non‐reducing end; the 0,4 A 3α fragment ion at m / z 353 is produced from D 3–4 ion via a 102‐Da loss; (c) and (d) Chemical structure and ESI‐LTQ Orbitrap CID MS spectrum of the C 2 m / z 471 glycosidic cleavage ion from the methylated glucurono‐tetra‐xylo‐saccharide (XU 4m2 XX, according to Fauré et al nomenclature), respectively. Glycosidic and cross‐ring cleavage ions are identified according to …”