We have developed novel NMR methods for the measurement of heteronuclear residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) in molecules with severely overlapping NMR resonances. These and other methods enabled us to obtain 31 RDCs for α-D-cellobiose and 24 RDCs for β-D-cellobiose. The interpretation of the data in the approximation of a rigid disaccharide structure, using RDCs and interglycosidic (3)J coupling...

BACKGROUND Phenylazonaphtol-β-D-O-glycosides are alternative substrates for the detection of enzymatic activity of β-glycosidases which are involved in various important processes. These azoic compounds are currently exploited as prodrugs for colonic disease due the presence of β-glycosidase activity in the gut flora and therefore allowing the release of the drug at the specific site. RESULTS...

We describe a novel, fundamental property of nucleobase structure, namely, pyramidilization at the N1/9 sites of purine and pyrimidine bases. Through a combined analyses of ultra-high-resolution X-ray structures of both oligonucleotides extracted from the Nucleic Acid Database and isolated nucleotides and nucleosides from the Cambridge Structural Database, together with a series of quantum chem...

Ruminococcus albus 8 is a fibrolytic ruminal bacterium capable of utilization of various plant cell wall polysaccharides. A bioinformatic analysis of a partial genome sequence of R. albus revealed several putative enzymes likely to hydrolyze glucans, including lichenin, a mixed-linkage polysaccharide of glucose linked together in β-1,3 and β-1,4 glycosidic bonds. In the present study, we demons...

Carbohydrates are naturally occurring and well distributed, and are the most important building blocks of the biosphere. These evolutionary and biologically important organic compounds are present on Earth in different forms. Traditionally, on the basis of the number of sugar units, carbohydrates are classified into three groups: monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. The natur...

Two new glycosidic acids, quamoclinic acids G and H, were isolated from the glycosidic acid fraction afforded by alkaline hydrolysis of the ether-insoluble resin glycoside (convolvulin) fraction from the seeds of Quamoclit pennata BOJER. Both compounds are the first examples of bisdesmosides of glycosidic acid having the sugar linkages at C-3 of 3,11-dihydroxytetradecanoic acid (ipurolic acid) ...

The hyperthermostable b-glycosidases from the Archaea Sulfolobus solfataricus (SsbGly) and Pyrococcus furiosus (CelB) hydrolyse b-glycosides of d-glucose or d-galactose with relaxed specificities pertaining to the nature of the leaving group and the glycosidic linkage. To determine how specificity is manifested under conditions of kinetically controlled transgalactosylation, the major transfer ...