Transglycosylation in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria Forsk.

Abstract

The hydrolysis of maltose, sucrose, methyl α-glucopyranoside, cellobiose, and raffinose by a freeze-dried enzyme preparation of the foregut and midgut contents of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria is accompanied by transglycosylation. The transglycosylation products were identified as far as possible by comparing their Rg values with those of authentic markers and by the use of specific paper partition chromatogram development techniques. In addition to glucose, maltose digests contained isomaltose, panose, maltotriose, and two other unidentified oligosaccharides which were probably of the panose series. Maltose reformation was detected by the incorporation of [ 14C] glucose into maltose. Transglucosylation in maltose digests can explain the apparent loss of reducing sugar when incubated maltose reaction mixtures samples are fractionated on activated carbon columns.