CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

B-(1-4)-D-Mannans constitute the major component of the cell wall of seaweeds of the genus Codium and replace cellulose as the major fibrillar component. These polymers were found as major constituents of the hot water extracts of green seaweed Codium vermilara. By anion exchange chromatography of the first hot water extract, a pure sulfated mannan with a molar ratio carbohydrates:sulfate of 2.7:1 was isolated. The sulfate groups are linked to C-2 of 23 % of the mannose units, while most of these units in the linear backbone are not substituted. This degree of sulfation would explain the higher solubility of the polymer, compared to that of the non-sulfated fibrillar mannan. This is a water-soluble sulfated polysaccharide, whose backbone is the same as that of the fibrillar moiety, possibly acting in the cell wall as an interphase region between neutral fibrillar polysaccharides zones and negatively-charged polysaccharides in the central amorphous zone.