An international group of scientists led by the University of Adelaide have discovered a new complex carbohydrate in the moss, which could be used for health or other purposes. New like polysaccharide useful for stomach and health beta-glucan contained in oats and other cereals. A polysaccharide is a complex carbohydrate consisting of sugar molecules. A group of scientists under the leadership of Professor Rachel Burton studied the evolutionary history of beta-glucan, when he made the discovery. The work was published in The Plant Cell.
Beta-glucan, another polysaccharide, is a dietary fiber, known as fiber, have many advantages to supply. Its a lot of grains such as oats and barley, but in mosses have not yet been found, despite the fact that these plants have similar genes.
The researchers took one of these genes in the moss to see if this could lead to the production of beta-glucan.
“We have discovered a new polysaccharide composed of the sugars glucose and arabinose, and not only of glucose, as in the beta glucane,” says Professor Burton. “We called it arabinogalactan and believe that the connection of two different sugars among themselves makes it structurally similar to beta-glucan. For all the moss we can not tell, but the new polysaccharide has a lot of potential”.
Professor Burton said that, although the function of arabinogalactan is not yet known, it may have properties that can be used in medicine and industry. Cellulose, for example, a well-known polysaccharide is used in the manufacture of paper and cotton and xolani are used as dietary supplements or for drug development.
“This discovery suggests many other plants contain polysaccharides, which we still don’t know?”, asked Professor Burton. “We don’t know how many, because I do not always have the opportunity to observe them. Need new tools for that.”
Scientists have found that green moss can be good for your health
Ilya Hel