Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology of 1-3 Beta Glucans and Related Polysaccharides

Antony Bacic, Geoffrey B. Fincher, Bruce A. Stone

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9780080920542
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Biotechnology in Medicine

Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology of 1-3 Beta Glucans and Related Polysaccharides presents a comprehensive, systematic and authoritative survey of information about a family of chemically related, but functionally diverse, naturally occurring polysaccharides--the (1-3)-glucans. International contributors describe the chemical and physicochemical properties of these glucans and their derivatives and the molecular biological and structural aspects of the enzymes involved in their formation and breakdown. A detailed analysis of their physiological roles in the various biological situations in which they are found will be provided. Additionally, evolutionary relationships among the family of these glucans will be described. - Topics of medical relevance include detailing the glucans' interactions with the immune system and research for cancer therapy applications - Web resource links allow scientists to explore additional beta glucan research - Separate indexes divided into Species and Subject for enhanced searchability

Chapter 1. Introduction and Historical Background

Adrienne E. Clarke

School of Botany, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia

This book is the final written chapter from Professor Bruce Stone’s life work on the (1→3)-β-glucans and related polysaccharides.

It is a journey that started when he took up his first academic appointment at The University of Melbourne in 1958. He embarked on analyses of the cereal glucans and of paramylon from Euglena gracilis. This early work, in which I participated as his first PhD student, led to a review of the literature ‘Chemistry and biochemistry of β-1,3 glucans’ which was published in Reviews of Pure and Applied Chemistry in 1963 (Clarke and Stone, 1963). The initial submission for this review was several times the final word count. Bruce felt very strongly that important information would be lost in editing it to an acceptable length. He resolved to write a more extensive work on the subject and to have it published as a book. His initial collaborator on this project was Marilyn Anderson, who was his PhD student at the time. The initial work was interrupted after her graduation when she travelled to the USA for post-doctoral studies. In those days, before email, communication was extremely slow and difficult. After some time, I became involved and took up the challenge of being the co-author with Bruce. This work Chemistry and Biology of the (1→3)-β-Glucans by Stone and Clarke was finally published in 1992 (Stone and Clarke, 1992), more than 20 years after its inception.

The volume was, at the time of publication, encyclopaedic. It was characterized by meticulous listing and ordering of information in extensive tables with complete bibliography. These were the hallmarks of Bruce’s writing and scholarship. Bruce had the commitment and the drive to track down even the most obscure references. He was not deterred by foreign language references and set about getting translations. In that volume, over 3500 references were listed (in full, at Bruce’s insistence). The reference list accounts for 178 pages of a total of 803 pages! His commitment to inclusivity led to a situation which in Australia we refer to as ‘painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge’. That is, as soon as application of one coat of paint is complete, the start point looks shabby and the painting starts again at the beginning. And so it was with the book. Given the extensive scope of the book and the fact that more and more research papers were being published in the journals, there were many revisions to include ‘the latest’. Finally, a line was drawn and the volume was published with a note in the foreword: ‘At the time the final revision was completed, immunological and molecular biological approaches were just being applied to study (1→3)-β-glucan synthesis, the (1→3)-β-glucan hydrolases and their biological functions. The literature in these fields has not been included. It is expanding rapidly and will justify separate reviews in the future.’ This volume is such a review.

In the 17 years between the two volumes, the impact of the technologies of molecular genetics on biology in general has been remarkable. For this particular field, application of the technologies has resulted in substantial new knowledge of the enzymes involved in both the biosynthesis and degradation of the (1→3)-β-glucans. The new tools that emerge from this research are making insights into the physiological roles of the (1→3)-β-glucans and the (1→3;1→4)-β-glucans possible. Having these genetic tools has also opened up the way to create plants, particularly cereals, with different content and compositions of β-glucans. Other new techniques, such as atomic force microscopy, have allowed insights into how variation in structure results in variation in solution and gel properties of these β-glucans. Since publication of the first volume, there have been discoveries of specific inhibitors of β-glucan synthesis in fungal cell walls, of how innate immunity in animal systems is modulated, of how the β-glucans complex with other polysaccharides and proteins, and many advances in recording the taxonomic distribution of the (1→3)- and the (1→3;1→4)-β-glucans. All these and other advances are documented in this book. It differs from the format of the earlier work in that it is a collection of 21 chapters each written by experts in the sub-fields. As well as masterminding the whole endeavour, Bruce wrote the chapter on the ‘Chemistry of β-Glucans’ as sole author, and co-authored two chapters with Vilma Stanisich on the ‘Enzymology and Molecular Genetics of Biosynthetic Enzymes for (1,3)-β-Glucans-Prokaryotes’ and ‘Functional Roles of (1,3)-β-Glucans- and Related Polysaccharides – Prokaryotes’, and a chapter on the ‘Evolutionary Aspects of (1,3)-β-Glucans and Related Polysaccharides’ with Philip Harris. The author list of the remaining chapters reflects the network of personal and professional friendships Bruce made, in many different countries, many of whom he visited in his extensive travels. The other Editors of this volume, Tony Bacic and Geoff Fincher, were his PhD students.

Bruce died in June 2008 after becoming ill with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2006. He had a scientist’s insight into his illness, but was buoyed by his work on this volume and the knowledge that it was close to completion. He was the ‘wise Elder’ of the global β-glucan community to whom all researchers turned, when their work led to questions of β-glucans. He also leaves a ‘family’ of students and their students, some of whom are active in the β-glucan field and others who have moved to different fields of biology. It surprises many of us who have moved to other fields of biology, how often seemingly unrelated fields suddenly and unexpectedly led back to the ubiquitous (1→3)-β-glucans.

He taught all his students the importance of care and accuracy in everything we wrote, as ‘it will be there in print for all time’. This volume reflects this ideal. It will be a personal memorial to Bruce for all the authors, a wonderful resource for many others and a lasting tribute to Professor Bruce Arthur Stone.

References

Clarke, A.E.; Stone, B.A., Chemistry and biochemistry of β-1,3-glucans, Reviews of Pure and Applied Chemistry 13 (1963) 134–156.

Stone, B.A.; Clarke, A.E., Chemistry and biology of the (1→3)-β-Glucans. (1992) La Trobe University Press,, Victoria, Australia ; ISBN 1 86324 409 3.

Chapter 2.1. Chemistry of β-Glucans

Bruce A. Stone

Department of Biochemistry, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

The simplest (1,3)-β-glucans are linear, unbranched chains as found in callose, curdlan, paramylon and pachyman. In the side-chain-branched members, exemplified by the chromistan and fungal laminarins and the fungal mucilage glucans, the (1,3)-β-glucosyl chain residues are substituted to varying degrees at C(O)6 by single β-Glc residues or in some instances by short (1,3)-β-oligoglucosyl chains. The cyclic (1,3)-β-glucan from Bradyrhizobium japonicum is composed of two blocks of three (1,3)-linked Glc units separated by two blocks of three (1,6)-linked Glc units, and has a single branch (1,6)-linked Glc residue at C(O)6 of one of the cyclic glucoses. Some molecules are substituted by phosphocholine at C(O)6 on one of the cyclic Glc residues. The yeast and fungal cell wall glucans are branch-on-branch molecules in which the linear (1,3)-β-glucosyl chains are joined through (1,6)-linkages. These molecules occur as complexes with other polysaccharides and proteins. The Streptococcus pneumoniae S37 polymer has a (1,3)-β-glucan backbone with (1,2)-linked β-Glc side-chain-branches at each main chain glucosyl residue. The (1,3;1,4)-β-glucans from cereals and grasses, other embryophytes, lichens and some other taxa are unsubstituted, linear molecules with sequences mostly of two or three (1,4)-linked β-Glc residues, but with longer sequences o...

Table of contents

• Cover Image
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• In Memoriam
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• Chapter 1. Introduction and Historical Background
• Chapter 2.1. Chemistry of β-Glucans
• Chapter 2.2. Physico-chemistry of (1,3)-β-Glucans
• Chapter 3.1. Plant and Microbial Enzymes Involved in the Depolymerization of (1,3)-β-d-Glucans and Related Polysaccharides
• Chapter 3.2. Interactions between Proteins and (1,3)-β-Glucans and Related Polysaccharides
• Chapter 3.3.1. Enzymology and Molecular Genetics of Biosynthetic Enzymes for (1,3)-β-Glucans
• Chapter 3.3.2. Biosynthetic Enzymes for (1,3)-β-Glucans and (1,3;1,6)-β-Glucans in Protozoans and Chromistans
• Chapter 3.3.3. Biosynthetic Enzymes for (1-3)-β-Glucans, (1-3;1-6)-β-Glucans from Yeasts
• Chapter 3.3.4. Biochemical and Molecular Properties of Biosynthetic Enzymes for (1,3)-β-Glucans in Embryophytes, Chlorophytes and Rhodophytes
• Chapter 4.1. Functional Roles of (1,3)-β-glucans and Related Polysaccharides
• Chapter 4.2. Biology of (1,3)-β-Glucans and Related Glucans in Protozoans and Chromistans
• Chapter 4.3. Organization of Fungal, Oomycete and Lichen (1,3)-β-Glucans
• Chapter 4.4.1. Callose in Cell Division
• Chapter 4.4.2. Cytology of the (1-3)-β-Glucan (Callose) in Plasmodesmata and Sieve Plate Pores
• Chapter 4.4.3. Callose and its Role in Pollen and Embryo Sac Development in Flowering Plants
• Chapter 4.4.4. Callose in Abiotic Stress
• Chapter 4.4.5. Callose in Biotic Stress (Pathogenesis)
• Chapter 4.5.1. Biological and Immunological Aspects of Innate Defence Mechanisms Activated by (1,3)-β-Glucans and Related Polysaccharides in Invertebrates
• Chapter 4.5.2. (1,3)-β-Glucans in Innate Immunity
• Chapter 4.6. Distribution, Fine Structure and Function of (1,3;1,4)-β-Glucans in the Grasses and Other Taxa
• Chapter 4.7. Evolutionary Aspects of (1,3)-β-Glucans and Related Polysaccharides
• Index