Molecular Structures of Fructans from Agave tequilana Weber var. azul

Abstract

Agave plants utilize crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) for CO(2) fixation. Fructans are the principal photosynthetic products generated by agave plants. These carbohydrates are fructose-bound polymers frequently with a single glucose moiety. Agave tequilana Weber var. azul is an economically important CAM species not only because it is the sole plant allowed for tequila production but because it is a potential source of prebiotics. Because of the large amounts of carbohydrates in A. tequilana, in this study the molecular structures of its fructans were determined by fructan derivatization for linkage analysis coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and matrix-assisted laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Fructans were extracted from 8-year-old A. tequilana plants. The linkage types present in fructans from A. tequilana were determined by permethylation followed by reductive cleavage, acetylation, and finally GC-MS analysis. Analysis of the degree of polymerization (DP) estimated by (1)H NMR integration and (13)C NMR and confirmed by MALDI-TOF-MS showed a wide DP ranging from 3 to 29 units. All of the analyses performed demonstrated that fructans from A. tequilana consist of a complex mixture of fructooligosaccharides containing principally beta(2 --> 1) linkages, but also beta(2 --> 6) and branch moieties were observed. Finally, it can be stated that fructans from A. tequilana Weber var. azul are not an inulin type as previously thought.

An Analysis of the Composition, Health Benefits, and Future Market Potential of the Jerusalem Artichoke in Canada

“…The length of the fructose chain, or the degree of polymerization, is dependent on the plant species, its current life cycle phase, the date the plant was harvested, and the extraction process used to obtain the inulin (Apoliná rio et al, 2014;Barclay, Ginic-Markovic, Cooper, & Petrovsky, 2010;Ronkart et al, 2007). Meyer and Blaauwhoed (2009) suggest that "native" inulin can be separated into short-chain and long-chain fractions, which changes the degrees of polymerization and thereby influences the potential uses of the inulin compound.…”

“…The fructose and glucose units that create inulin are connected through glycosidic β(2-1) bonds, which makes inulin indigestible by humans (Barclay et al, 2010). As a result, inulin often travels completely intact through the digestive system until it reaches the large intestine, where certain microflora can digest the polysaccharide (Apoliná rio et al, 2014;Shoaib et al, 2016).…”

Evaluación de la composta de bagazo de agave como componente de sustratos para producir plántulas de agave azul tequilero

“…azul) tiene gran importancia industrial por sus requerimientos agroecológicos y de producción (Ruiz, 2007), así como por los azúcares que almacena en el tallo y en las bases de las hojas (Aguilar et al, 2002;Legorreta y Ogura, 2002;López et al, 2003;Larqué et al, 2004;Rendón et al, 2007), los cuales son utilizados para la elaboración de la bebida espirituosa denominada "Tequila".…”

“…Blue) has great industrial importance for their agroecological and production requirements (Ruiz, 2007), as well as for the sugars stored in the stem and leaf bases (Aguilar et al 2002;Legorreta and Ogura, 2002;López et al 2003;Larqué et al, 2004;Rendón et al, 2007), which are used for the manufacture of the drink called "Tequila".…”

Optimization study of fructans extraction from Agave tequilana Weber azul variety

“…Heads of plants belonging to the agave genus have high contents of fructan oligomers, composed mainly of fructose units linked to a sucrose molecule. These agave fructans consist of a complex mixture of fructooligosaccharides, containing principally β (2-1) and β (2-6) linkages (Lopez et al, 2003;Mancilla-Margalli & López, 2006). Mexico has a considerable production of agave, and particularly the Agave tequilana Weber azul variety is grown commercially for the production of the worldwide famous alcoholic beverage tequila (Bautista-Justo et al, 2001).…”