College of Chemistry & Molecule Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
College of Pharmacy, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430065, China.
Biomacromolecules. 2020 May 11;21(5):1653-1677. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.9b01644. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
Natural polysaccharides derived from renewable biomass sources are regarded as environmentally friendly and sustainable polymers. As the third most abundant biomacromolecule in nature, after proteins and nucleic acids, polysaccharides are also closely related with many different life activities. In particular, β-glucans are one of the most widely reported bioactive polysaccharides and are usually considered as biological response modifiers. Among them, β-glucans with triple-helix conformation have been the hottest and most well-researched polysaccharides at present, especially lentinan and schizophyllan, which are clinically used as cancer therapies in some Asian countries. Thus, creation of these active triple-helix polysaccharides is beneficial to the research and development of sustainable "green" biopolymers in the fields of food and life sciences. Therefore, full fundamental research of triple-helix polysaccharides is essential to discover more applications for polysaccharides. In this Review, the recent research progress of chain conformations, bioactivities, and structure-function relationships of triple-helix β-glucans is summarized. The main contents include the characterization methods of the macromolecular conformation, proof of triple helices, bioactivities, and structure-function relationships. We believe that the governments, enterprises, universities, and institutes dealing with the survival and health of human beings can expect the development of natural bioproducts in the future. Hence, a deep understanding of β-glucans with triple-helix chain conformation is necessary for application of natural medicines and biologics for a sustainable world.
天然多糖来源于可再生生物质资源，被认为是环境友好且可持续的聚合物。作为自然界中第三丰富的生物大分子（仅次于蛋白质和核酸），多糖也与许多不同的生命活动密切相关。特别是β-葡聚糖是最广泛报道的生物活性多糖之一，通常被认为是生物反应调节剂。其中，具有三螺旋构象的β-葡聚糖是目前最热门和研究最多的多糖之一，特别是香菇多糖和裂褶菌多糖，它们在一些亚洲国家被临床用于癌症治疗。因此，这些活性三螺旋多糖的创制有利于食品和生命科学等领域可持续的“绿色”生物聚合物的研究和开发。因此，对三螺旋多糖的全面基础研究对于发现多糖的更多应用是必要的。在这篇综述中，总结了三螺旋β-葡聚糖的链构象、生物活性和结构-功能关系的最新研究进展。主要内容包括大分子构象的表征方法、三螺旋的证明、生物活性和结构-功能关系。我们相信，处理人类生存和健康的政府、企业、大学和研究所可以期待未来天然生物制品的发展。因此，深入了解具有三螺旋链构象的β-葡聚糖对于应用天然药物和生物制剂以实现可持续发展的世界是必要的。
