Composition, structure and solution properties of polysaccharides extracted from leaves of Mesembryanthenum crystallinum

Water and Chelator-soluble polymers were independently isolated from the alcoholic-insoluble substance (AIS) of Mesembryanthenum crystallinum leaves. After precipitation in ethanol and ultrafiltration (40 kD cut-off) of recovered solids dissolved in water, the yield relative of the so-call Lw and LCh polymers to the AIS dry matter was 2.5 ± 0.2 and 7 ± 0.5%. The galacturonic acid contents were 67 ± 3% and 63 ± 5%. The degrees of methylesterification of ca. 45 ± 3% and 50 ± 3%, showed that Lw and LCh belonged to the fairly methylesterified pectin class. From sugar analysis, LCh was shown to contain at least two types of pectic blocks, homogalacturonan (HG: 58%) and rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I: 34%). Their structure were deduced after saponification, polygalacturonase treatments, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) onto Sephacryl S-200 and then sugar composition of the collected fractions. The main polymers were methylesterified HG (32%), some of them being linked to non-methylesterified HG (10%), and to polygalacturonase-resistant HG (17%). In addition, there were (1) a highly soluble RG-I with long galactan side chains (RG-I–gal accounting for 9%) and (2) a RG-I with short arabino-galactan side chains (25%), named RG-I–ara/gal that was almost totally lost during SEC analysis, due to its low solubility at room temperature and in absence of chelators.SEC coupled with differential refractive index and light scattering showed that highly methylesterified HG chains exhibited aggregate structures in solution due to intermolecular hydrophobic interactions. These interactions formed hydrophobic clusters, which have been characterized by surface tension measurements and with a polarity probe, the Coomassie Brilliant Blue dye. After alkaline treatment of LCh, the self-assembly of HG disappeared.