TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular weight control of curdlan (β-1,3-glucan polysaccharide) provides unique polynucleotide binding properties
AU - Koumoto, Kazuya
AU - Kobayashi, Hideki
AU - Mizu, Masami
AU - Kimura, Taro
AU - Sakurai, Kazuo
AU - Kunitake, Toyoki
AU - Shinkai, Seiji
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgment. We thank Taito Co., Ltd. for providing the schizophyllan samples. K.K. is indebted to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for the financial support. This research has been conducted under the financial support from the JST SORST Program.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Recently, we found that schizophyllan belonging to a β-1,3-glucan polysaccharide family forms macromolecular complexes with certain single-stranded polynucleotides. The specific complex formation is originated from the β-1,3-glucan skeleton in the main chain. In this paper, we have reported that curdlan, which is a β-1,3-glucan polysaccharide without a side chain glucose unit, shows unique poly(C) binding properties different from those of schizophyllan; in the experiments using curdlan samples with the controlled molecular weight, the complexation ability appeared only in a limited "Mw range window". Stoichiometric analysis revealed that the "Mw range window" appears as a result of the competition between curdlan-curdlan self-association and curdlan-polynucleotide complexation. Furthermore, when the experiments were extended to other polynucleotides such as poly(A), poly(dA) and poly(dT), the "Mw range window" also appeared at their characteristic molecular weights. We believe, therefore, that curdlan can be applicable, in spite of its cheapness, as a precious functional material to gene technology.
AB - Recently, we found that schizophyllan belonging to a β-1,3-glucan polysaccharide family forms macromolecular complexes with certain single-stranded polynucleotides. The specific complex formation is originated from the β-1,3-glucan skeleton in the main chain. In this paper, we have reported that curdlan, which is a β-1,3-glucan polysaccharide without a side chain glucose unit, shows unique poly(C) binding properties different from those of schizophyllan; in the experiments using curdlan samples with the controlled molecular weight, the complexation ability appeared only in a limited "Mw range window". Stoichiometric analysis revealed that the "Mw range window" appears as a result of the competition between curdlan-curdlan self-association and curdlan-polynucleotide complexation. Furthermore, when the experiments were extended to other polynucleotides such as poly(A), poly(dA) and poly(dT), the "Mw range window" also appeared at their characteristic molecular weights. We believe, therefore, that curdlan can be applicable, in spite of its cheapness, as a precious functional material to gene technology.
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U2 - 10.1295/polymj.36.380
DO - 10.1295/polymj.36.380
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:3042593677
VL - 36
SP - 380
EP - 385
JO - Polymer Journal
JF - Polymer Journal
SN - 0032-3896
IS - 5
ER -