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Raffinose

 
Raffinose

 
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Raffinose
 
 
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Raffinose is a trisaccharide composed of galactose
Galactose

Galactose is a type of Carbohydrate which is less sweetness than glucose. It is considered a nutritive sweetener because it has food energy.Galactan is a polymer of the sugar galactose....
, fructose
Fructose

Fructose is a simple Reducing sugar sugar found in many foods and is one of the three important dietary monosaccharides along with glucose and galactose....
, and glucose
Glucose

Glucose , a monosaccharide also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology....
. It can be found in bean
Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genus of the Family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw....
s, cabbage
Cabbage

The cabbage is a leafy garden plant of the Family Brassicaceae , used as a Leaf vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial plant, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, forming a characteristic compact, globular cluster ....
, brussels sprout
Brussels sprout

The Brussels sprout of the Brassicaceae family, is a cultivar of Brassica oleracea cultivated for its small leafy green buds, which resemble miniature cabbages....
s, broccoli
Broccoli

Broccoli is a plant of the cabbage family Brassicaceae .It is classified as the Italica cultivar group of the species Brassica oleracea. Broccoli possesses abundant arboreal, luscious, fleshy, flower heads, usually green in color, arranged in a tree-like fashion on branches sprouting from a thick, edible, sturdy, meaty stalk....
, asparagus
Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis is a flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus from which the vegetable known as asparagus is obtained....
, other vegetables, and whole grain
GRAIN

GRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated....
s. Raffinose can be hydrolyzed
Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which one or more water are split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions which may go on to participate in further reactions....
 to D-galactose and sucrose
Sucrose

Sucrose is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose, with the molecular formula C12H22O11. Its systematic name is a-D-glucopyranosyl- -?-D-fructofuranoside ....
 by the enzyme a-galactosidase (a-GAL), an enzyme not found in humans. a-GAL also hydrolyzes other a-galactosides such as stachyose
Stachyose

Stachyose is a tetrasaccharide consisting of two a--galactose units, one a--glucose unit, and one ?--fructose unit sequentially linked as galgalglcfru....
, verbascose, and galactinol, if present. The enzyme does not cleave ß-linked galactose, as in lactose
Lactose

Lactose is a sugar that is found most notably in milk. Lactose makes up around 2?8% of milk . The name comes from the Latin word for milk, plus the -ose ending used to name sugars....
.

The raffinose family of oligosaccharide
Oligosaccharide

An oligosaccharide is a saccharide polymer containing a small number of component sugars, also known as simple sugars. The name derived from the Greek oligos, meaning "a few"....
s (RFOs) are alpha-galactosyl derivatives of sucrose
Sucrose

Sucrose is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose, with the molecular formula C12H22O11. Its systematic name is a-D-glucopyranosyl- -?-D-fructofuranoside ....
, and the most common are the trisaccharide raffinose, the tetrasaccharide
Tetrasaccharide

A tetrasaccharide is a carbohydrate which gives upon hydrolysis four molecules of the same or different monosaccharides. For example, stachyose upon hydrolysis gives one molecule each of glucose and fructose and two molecules of galactose....
 stachyose, and the pentasaccharide verbascose.






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Encyclopedia


Raffinose is a trisaccharide composed of galactose
Galactose

Galactose is a type of Carbohydrate which is less sweetness than glucose. It is considered a nutritive sweetener because it has food energy.Galactan is a polymer of the sugar galactose....
, fructose
Fructose

Fructose is a simple Reducing sugar sugar found in many foods and is one of the three important dietary monosaccharides along with glucose and galactose....
, and glucose
Glucose

Glucose , a monosaccharide also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology....
. It can be found in bean
Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genus of the Family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw....
s, cabbage
Cabbage

The cabbage is a leafy garden plant of the Family Brassicaceae , used as a Leaf vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial plant, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, forming a characteristic compact, globular cluster ....
, brussels sprout
Brussels sprout

The Brussels sprout of the Brassicaceae family, is a cultivar of Brassica oleracea cultivated for its small leafy green buds, which resemble miniature cabbages....
s, broccoli
Broccoli

Broccoli is a plant of the cabbage family Brassicaceae .It is classified as the Italica cultivar group of the species Brassica oleracea. Broccoli possesses abundant arboreal, luscious, fleshy, flower heads, usually green in color, arranged in a tree-like fashion on branches sprouting from a thick, edible, sturdy, meaty stalk....
, asparagus
Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis is a flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus from which the vegetable known as asparagus is obtained....
, other vegetables, and whole grain
GRAIN

GRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated....
s. Raffinose can be hydrolyzed
Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which one or more water are split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions which may go on to participate in further reactions....
 to D-galactose and sucrose
Sucrose

Sucrose is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose, with the molecular formula C12H22O11. Its systematic name is a-D-glucopyranosyl- -?-D-fructofuranoside ....
 by the enzyme a-galactosidase (a-GAL), an enzyme not found in humans. a-GAL also hydrolyzes other a-galactosides such as stachyose
Stachyose

Stachyose is a tetrasaccharide consisting of two a--galactose units, one a--glucose unit, and one ?--fructose unit sequentially linked as galgalglcfru....
, verbascose, and galactinol, if present. The enzyme does not cleave ß-linked galactose, as in lactose
Lactose

Lactose is a sugar that is found most notably in milk. Lactose makes up around 2?8% of milk . The name comes from the Latin word for milk, plus the -ose ending used to name sugars....
.

The raffinose family of oligosaccharide
Oligosaccharide

An oligosaccharide is a saccharide polymer containing a small number of component sugars, also known as simple sugars. The name derived from the Greek oligos, meaning "a few"....
s (RFOs) are alpha-galactosyl derivatives of sucrose
Sucrose

Sucrose is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose, with the molecular formula C12H22O11. Its systematic name is a-D-glucopyranosyl- -?-D-fructofuranoside ....
, and the most common are the trisaccharide raffinose, the tetrasaccharide
Tetrasaccharide

A tetrasaccharide is a carbohydrate which gives upon hydrolysis four molecules of the same or different monosaccharides. For example, stachyose upon hydrolysis gives one molecule each of glucose and fructose and two molecules of galactose....
 stachyose, and the pentasaccharide verbascose. RFOs are almost ubiquitous in the plant
Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
 kingdom, being found in a large variety of seeds from many different families, and they rank second only to sucrose in abundance as soluble carbohydrates.

Humans and other monogastric animals (pig
Pig

Pigs, also called hogs or swine, are a genus of even-toed ungulates within the Family Suidae. The name pig, hog, or swine most commonly refers to the Domestic pig in everyday parlance, but technically encompasses several distinct species, including the Wild Boar....
s and poultry
Poultry

Poultry is the category of domesticated birds which some people keep for the purpose of collecting their egg , or kill for their meat and/or feathers....
) do not possess the a-GAL enzyme to break down RFOs and these oligosaccharides pass undigested through the stomach and upper intestine. In the lower intestine, they are fermented
Fermentation (biochemistry)

Fermentation is the process of deriving energy from the Redox of organic compounds, such as carbohydrates, using an Endogeny electron acceptor, which is usually an organic compound....
 by gas-producing bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
 which do possess the a-GAL enzyme and make carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
, methane
Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula . It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees....
, and/or hydrogen
Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the chemical symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly combustion and explosive Diatomic molecule gas with the molecular formula H2....
 -- leading to the flatulence
Flatulence

Flatulence is the production of a mixture of gases in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals or other animals that are byproducts of the digestion process....
 commonly associated with eating beans and other vegetables. a-GAL is present in digestive aids such as the product Beano
Beano (dietary supplement)

Beano is an enzyme-based dietary supplement that is used to reduce gas in the digestive tract, thereby preventing flatulence. It contains the enzyme alpha galactosidase that breaks down oligosaccharides such as raffinose....
.

Procedures concerning cryopreservation have utilized raffinose to provide hypertonicity for cell desiccation prior to freezing . Either raffinose or sucrose
Sucrose

Sucrose is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose, with the molecular formula C12H22O11. Its systematic name is a-D-glucopyranosyl- -?-D-fructofuranoside ....
 is used as a base substance for sucralose
Sucralose

Sucralose is a zero-calorie sugar substitute artificial sweetener. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number E955. Sucralose is approximately 600 times as Sweetness as sucrose , twice as sweet as saccharin, and 3.3 times as sweet as aspartame....
.

See also

  • Raffinose-raffinose alpha-galactosyltransferase
    Raffinose-raffinose alpha-galactosyltransferase

    In enzymology, a raffinose-raffinose alpha-galactosyltransferase is an enzyme that catalysis the chemical reactionHence, this enzyme has one substrate , raffinose, and two product , 1F-alpha-D-galactosylraffinose and sucrose....