Arabinosecontaining

Arabinose-containing refers to molecules that incorporate arabinose, a five-carbon monosaccharide, as part of their structure. Arabinose commonly exists as the L-arabinofuranose form in nature. In plants and microorganisms, arabinose units are found as components of various polysaccharides and glycoconjugates.

In plant cell walls, arabinose residues are abundant in arabinans, arabinogalactans, and rhamnogalacturonan I. Arabinoxylans are major cereal polysaccharides in which arabinose side chains decorate a xylan backbone. In bacteria and fungi, arabinose can be part of glycoproteins, glycolipids, or other polysaccharides such as arabinogalactans. These sugars typically appear in glycosidic linkages such as alpha-L-arabinofuranosyl or beta-D-arabinofuranosyl units connecting to other sugars.

Metabolically, arabinose is catabolized by specialized pathways in microbes, notably the L-arabinose utilization pathway that converts L-arabinose to D-xylulose-5-phosphate via intermediates encoded by araA, araB, and araD genes. In plants and some microorganisms, arabinose also serves as a biosynthetic precursor for UDP-arabinose, supplying arabinose residues for polysaccharide and glycoprotein biosynthesis.

Arabinose-containing compounds have practical relevance in research and industry. The L-arabinose-inducible promoter system (PBAD) in Escherichia coli is widely used to control gene expression. Arabinose-containing oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and glycoconjugates are studied in plant biology, nutrition, and biofuel research, and arabinose residues can serve as chemoselective handles in glycan analysis and labeling.