A team of scientists at the University of Adelaide, Australia, has discovered a new complex carbohydrate in the barley (Hordeum vulgare), the world’s fourth most important cereal crop after wheat, rice and maize.
Barley (Hordeum vulgare). Image credit: Kang B.C.H.
The newly-discovered polysaccharide is a mix of glucose, commonly found in cellulose, and xylose, which is found in dietary fiber.
Based on the relative proportions of each sugar, the hybrid polysaccharide has the potential to behave as a structural component of the plant cell wall providing strength or conversely as a viscous gel.
“Plant cell walls contain components that are of major interest for many industries such as renewable sources for energy production, composite materials or food products,” said study lead author Dr. Alan Little, a researcher in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls at the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide.
“Knowledge of this new polysaccharide will open up further research to determine its role in the plant.”
“We know that it can be found in the roots of barley suggesting it may play a role in plant growth or resistance to external stresses such as salinity or disease.”
“By observing natural variation of the polysaccharide in different cereal crops we will aim to identify links to important agricultural traits.”
The first of its kind to be discovered in over three decades, the new polysaccharide has potential applications in food, medicine and cosmetics. Image credit: Little et al, doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.8b00568.
Existing polysaccharides have a wide range of uses. They improve the quality of dietary fiber in porridge and are also used extensively in biomedical and cosmetic applications.
Further research is required to understand the new polysaccharide’s potential uses.
“The properties of the new polysaccharide could be manipulated to suit the desired function, increasing the range of potential uses,” Dr. Little said.
“The genes involved in the biosynthesis of the new polysaccharide were also discovered as part of this work.”
“The same genes can be found in all major cereal crops — not just barley.”
“We can now use this knowledge to find ways of increasing these polysaccharides in crops, providing the possibility of generating plant material with a range of potentially different physical properties for industrial applications.”
The results were published in the journal ACS Central Science.
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Alan Little et al. A Novel (1,4)-β-Linked Glucoxylan Is Synthesized by Members of the Cellulose Synthase-Like F Gene Family in Land Plants. ACS Cent. Sci, published online January 2, 2018; doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.8b00568
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