A hexa-oligosaccharide was obtained by partial acid hydrolysis from botryosphaeran, an exopolysaccharide (EPS) β(1→3; 1→6)-D-glucan type, produced by the ascomyceteous fungus Botryosphaeria rhodina. The oligosaccharide was purified by gel filtration and charcoal-Celite column chromatography and the analysis was followed by HPAEC/PAD. The structure was determined by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, which showed that the oligosaccharide consists of six β-D-glucopiranosyl units O-6 substituted (gentiohexaose).

This article gives an overview of exopolysaccharides produced by fungi. The structural characterization of beta-D-(1->3) and beta-D-(1->3, 1->6)- glucans is discussed focusing on different chemical and physical procedures. The industrial applications are also considered mainly from the point of view of human health.

As glicoproteínas dos líquens Sticta tomentosa e Sticta damaecornis foram extraídas utilizando-se tampão específico e fracionadas pela adição crescente de sulfato de amônio. Dentre os diferentes cortes de saturação obtidos, as frações 30-80% de ambos os líquens foram eleitas objeto de estudo desta pesquisa. Métodos químicos e enzimáticos foram aplicados para a obtenção de oligossacarídeos N-ligados, que em seguida, foram derivatizados resultando em tirosinamida-oligossacarídeos. Após inserção do grupo cromóforo nas estruturas oligossacarídicas, os mesmos foram purificados por HPLC com detecção em 280 nm. Em relação ao líquen Sticta tomentosa, os cromatogramas revelaram a presença de dois picos com tempos de retenção de aproximadamente 11 e 18 minutos sugerindo a presença de dois diferentes oligossacarídeos N-ligados. O líquen Sticta damaecornis, seguindo as mesmas condições de purificação, apresentou em cromatografia quatro picos distintos com tempos de 11, 13, 18,2 e 18,4 minutos, respectivamente, sugerindo por sua vez a presença de quatro oligossacarídeos N-ligados diferentes.

The lichens Sticta tomentosa and Sticta damaecornis were extracted to obtain glycoproteins. The extracts were fractionated with 30-80% saturation (NH4)2SO4. The fractions were reduced, alkylated and after dialysis the material were digested with trypsin. The digests were dialyzed, freeze-dried and analyzed in reverse-phase high performance chromatography (RP-HPLC) based on the peptide hydrophobicity.N-linked oligosaccharides were removed from glycopeptides with PNGase A and analyzed by HPAEC-PAD that indicated the presence of several peaks between 12 to 17 min. The reducing oligosaccharides were reacted with NH4HCO3 to form oligosaccharides-glycosylamines and then derivatized with N-hydroxysuccinimidyl ester of Boc-tyrosine, resulting in tyrosinamide-oligosaccharides with sufficient hydrophobicity to facilitate RP-HPLC separation. RP-HPLC purification of asialyl tyrosinamide oligosaccharides from S. tomentosa showed two peaks eluted at 11 and 18 min. The asialyl tyrosinamide oligosaccharides from S. damaecornis eluted as four peaks at 11, 13, 18,2 and 18,4 min. The components that eluted at 11 min for both lichens showed the same monosaccharide composition.