dl-Galactan hybrids and agarans from gametophytes of the red seaweed Gymnogongrus torulosus Original Research Article

Seaweeds from the genus Gymnogongrus are known to be carrageenophytes; nevertheless, fractionation techniques used previously for the separation of gel-forming and ‘soluble’ carrageenans, applied to the galactans of Gymnogongrus torulosus together with enantiomeric analysis of the sugar components and (when possible) of the structural units, suggested that the system of galactans biosynthesized by the seaweed was formed by dl-galactan hybrids having major amounts of carrageenan-type or agaran-type chains, with minor quantities of agarans with unusual structural details.