Structural studies on polysaccharides synthetised from sucrose by soluble enzymes in human dental plaque material.

Soluble enzymes in human dental plaque material were shown to synthetise a polysaccharide material when incubated with sucrose. The polysaccharide mixture was fractionated by gel chromatography and the major fraction (Mw congruent to 95,000) was characterised as a mixture of a alpha-(1 leads to 6)-linked glucan with branches linked alpha-(1 leads to 3) to the main chain and a beta-(2 leads to 6)-linked fructan with branches in the 1-position of the chain residues.