Cognition of polysaccharides from confusion to clarity: when the next “omic” will come?

Abstract

With the accelerated pace of modern life, people are facing more and more health pressure. The study of polysaccharides seemed a good choice as a potential treasure trove. Polysaccharides, one of the four basic substances (proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and carbohydrates) that constitute life activities, are obviously an underrated macromolecular substance with great potential. Compared with protein and nucleic acid, the research of polysaccharides is still in the primary stage. The relationship between structure and function of polysaccharides is not clear. In this review, we highlighted the main methods of extraction, purification and structure identification of polysaccharides; summarized their biological activities including immunoregulation, hypoglycemic, anti-tumor, anti-virus, anti-coagulation, and so on. Particularly, the relationship between their structures and activities was described. In addition, the applications of polysaccharides in health food, medicine and cosmetics were also reviewed. This review can help polysaccharide researchers quickly understand the whole process of polysaccharides research, and also provide a reference for the comprehensive utilization of polysaccharides. We need to standardize the research of polysaccharides to make the experimental data more universal, and take it as important references in the review process. Glycomic may appear as the next “omic” after genomic and proteomic in the future. This review provides support for the advancement of glycomics.

Keywords:

• Biological activities
• polysaccharides
• purification
• structure-activity relationship
• structural characterization

Author contributions

The review was conceived and designed by Jike Lu and Limin Hao. The manuscript was written by Yinxin Cui and revised by Xin Liu, Juanjuan Yi, and Qiaozhen Kang.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81870093), the Research Project of People’s Liberation Army (BXP20C006, BX115C007), the Program for Science&Technology Innovation Talents in Universities of Henan Province (22HASTIT037) and the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province for Outstanding Youth (202300410365).