A galactoglucan isolated from of Cistanche deserticola Y. C. Ma. and its bioactivity on intestinal bacteria strains

Abstract To understand whether polysaccharides may have impact on gut microbiota, a neutral polysaccharide CDA-0.05 with an average molecular weight of 7.96 kDa was obtained from Cistanche deserticola Y. C. Ma. The monosaccharide composition analysis indicated that CDA-0.05 was composed of glucose and galactose in a molar ratio of 96.4: 3.6. The backbone of CDA-0.05 contained 1, 4-linked α-D-Glc p , 1, 4, 6-linked α-D-Glc p and 1, 4-linked β-D-Gal p , with branches of T-linked α-D-Glc p attached at C-6 of 1, 4, 6-linked α-D-Glc p residues. Bioactivity test results suggested that CDA-0.05 could promote the growth of three species of Bacteroides (B. thetaiotaomicron, B. ovatus and B. fragilis ) significantly. Furthermore, CDA-0.05 could also promote some probiotics growth, such as Lactobacillus casei , Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus reuteri . These results suggested that CDA-0.05 might help to maintain intestinal homeostasis and could be recommended as part of fibers or drugs candidate to benefit human body by regulating gut bacteria.