Nucleotides and related compounds in bracken

Abstract

The role of sugar nucleotides in polysaccharide synthesis is discussed. The presence of acid soluble nucleotides in bracken rhizomes was demonstrated (20 μmol/kg fresh weight) and the uridine series was shown to predominate accounting for some 80% of the total. The following were identified, UDP‐glucose (60%), UDP‐galactose (15%), UDP‐xylose (9%), UDP‐arabinose (3%), UDP‐glucuronic acid (4%), GDP‐mannose (6%) and GDP‐fucose (3%). It is probable that these sugar nucleotides supply the full complement of sugars identified in the carbohydrate fractions of bracken.