Structural characterization of cell-wall polysaccharides purified from chayote (Sechium edule) fruit

Chayote (Sechium edule), an underutilized cucurbit vegetable crop, has gained attention as it exhibits healthpromoting properties. However, the primary structure of chayote cell-wall polysaccharides has not been comprehensively studied. In this study, two cell-wall polysaccharides, CP-1 (41.1 KDa) and CP-2 (15.6 KDa), were extracted from chayote, and the structural analysis of CP-1 and CP-2 was carried out by monosaccharide composition analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), methylation analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The results demonstrated that CP-1 was a galactan, and CP-2 was an anionic heteropolysaccharide composed of galacturonic acid, galactose, arabinose, rhamnose, glucose, glucuronic acid, mannose, and xylose in the molar ratio of 31.2:26.3:24.9:7.4:6.5:1.9:1.3:0.5. CP-2 has a backbone of & RARR; 4)-& beta;-D-Galp-(1 & RARR; 3,6)-& beta;-D-Galp-(1 & RARR; 3)-& beta;-D-Galp-(1 & RARR; 4)-& alpha;-D-GalpA-(1 & RARR;, with branches at O-6 of & RARR; 3,6)-& beta;-DGalp-(1 & RARR;, consisting of & alpha;-L-Araf-(1 & RARR; 5)-& alpha;-L-Araf-(1 & RARR; 4)-& beta;-D-Glcp-(1 & RARR;. Analysis of the structural and physicochemical properties confirmed the excellent application characteristics of CP-1 and CP-2. Hence, cell-wall polysaccharides of chayote could be used as new polysaccharides materials.

Automated summary

This study extracted two cell-wall polysaccharides, CP-1 and CP-2, from chayote and conducted a structural analysis. CP-1 was identified as galactan, while CP-2 was an anionic heteropolysaccharide. The excellent application characteristics of CP-1 and CP-2 were confirmed, suggesting that chayote cell-wall polysaccharides could be used as new polysaccharide materials.