Solvent accessibility studies on polysaccharides

The solvent accessible surface area (ASA) of the polysaccharides, namely (i ) carrageenan (1CAR); (ii) agarose (1AGA); (iii) guaran (GUR); (iv) capsula r polysaccharide (1CAP); and (v) hyaluronan (1HUA), have been computed usin g the solvent accessibility technique of Lee and Richards. The results show that the average variation of ASA for the various atoms in the molecules l ie in the range 1-30 Angstrom (2). Irrespective of position of sulfation, e ither at two or four in the sugar residues in 1CAR, the charged groups inte ract almost equally with the solvent. The ASA values for the chains A and B in 1AGA and 1CAR indicate that there are not much interchain interactions and the chains in both the molecules interact equally with the solvent. Res idue-wise analysis indicates that the ASAs of residues vary alternately, hi gh-low-high value pattern that is similar to that of the hydrophobic behavi our of beta -strands in proteins. The results also suggest that in these po lysaccharides D-configuration residues have higher ASA than L-configuration residues. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.