Oligosaccharide

An oligosaccharide is a carbohydrate made of a short chain of monosaccharide units joined by glycosidic bonds. Its chains are longer than those of simple sugars and shorter than most polysaccharides.

Monosaccharide: A simple sugar unit that cannot be hydrolyzed into a smaller carbohydrate. Each oligosaccharide is assembled from these individual sugar units.
Carbohydrate digestion: The enzymatic breakdown of dietary carbohydrates into absorbable sugars. Digestive enzymes cleave some oligosaccharides into monosaccharides.
Human milk oligosaccharide: A diverse carbohydrate in human milk that infants largely resist digesting. These oligosaccharides nourish selected gut microbes and help shape infant intestinal ecology.
Glycosylation: The enzymatic attachment of sugars to proteins, lipids, or other molecules. Glycosylation installs oligosaccharide chains that alter molecular behavior and recognition.
Glycosidic bond: A covalent linkage formed between sugar molecules, often through a condensation reaction. These bonds join the monosaccharides into a chain.
Alpha-galactosidase: An enzyme that hydrolyzes terminal alpha-galactosyl residues from oligosaccharides and other substrates. Its action explains why some bean oligosaccharides are not digested in the small intestine.
Raffinose: A trisaccharide composed of galactose, glucose, and fructose, found in plants including legumes. Raffinose is a familiar dietary oligosaccharide associated with intestinal gas.
Glycoprotein: A protein bearing covalently attached carbohydrate chains. Its attached oligosaccharides influence folding, stability, and interactions.
Reducing sugar: A sugar with a free anomeric carbon that can reduce certain chemical reagents. Whether an oligosaccharide has a free anomeric carbon affects its reducing behavior.
Prebiotic: A substrate selectively used by host microorganisms that confers a health benefit. Certain oligosaccharides resist digestion and are fermented by beneficial gut microbes.

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