Glycosides are a major group of plant secondary compounds characterized by one or more sugars conjugated to a lipophilic, possibly toxic aglycone, which is released upon hydrolysis. We compared small intestinal homogenate hydrolysis activity of three rodent and two avian species against four substrates: amygdalin and sinigrin, two plant derived glucosides, the sugar lactose, whose hydrolysis models some activity against flavonoid and isoflavonoid glucosides, and the disaccharide sugar maltose (from starch), used as a comparator. Three new findings extend our understanding of physiological processing of plant glucosides: (1) the capacity of passerine birds to hydrolyze plant glucosides seems relatively low, compared to rodents; (2) in this first test of vertebrates' enzymic capacity to hydrolyze glucosinolates, sinigrin hydrolytic capacity seems low; (3) in laboratory mice hydrolytic activity against lactose resides on the enterocytes' apical membrane facing the intestinal lumen, but activity against amygdalin seems to reside inside enterocytes.
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01 January 2015
Small intestinal hydrolysis of plant glucosides: higher Glucohydrolase activities in rodents than passerine birds
K. M. Lessner,
K. M. Lessner
1
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Russell Laboratories, University of Wisconsin-Madison
, Wisconsin 53706
, USA
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M. Denise Dearing,
M. Denise Dearing
2
Department of Biology, University of Utah
, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
, USA
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I. Izhaki,
I. Izhaki
3
Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa
, 31905 Haifa
, Israel
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M. Samuni-Blank,
M. Samuni-Blank
4
Department of Biology
, Technion, Haifa 32000
, Israel
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Z. Arad,
Z. Arad
4
Department of Biology
, Technion, Haifa 32000
, Israel
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W. H. Karasov
W. H. Karasov
*
1
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Russell Laboratories, University of Wisconsin-Madison
, Wisconsin 53706
, USA
*Author for correspondence: wkarasov@wisc.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
K. M. Lessner
1
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Russell Laboratories, University of Wisconsin-Madison
, Wisconsin 53706
, USA
M. Denise Dearing
2
Department of Biology, University of Utah
, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
, USA
I. Izhaki
3
Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa
, 31905 Haifa
, Israel
M. Samuni-Blank
4
Department of Biology
, Technion, Haifa 32000
, Israel
Z. Arad
4
Department of Biology
, Technion, Haifa 32000
, Israel
W. H. Karasov
*
1
Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Russell Laboratories, University of Wisconsin-Madison
, Wisconsin 53706
, USA
*Author for correspondence: wkarasov@wisc.edu
Received:
06 Mar 2015
Accepted:
22 Jun 2015
Online ISSN: 1477-9145
Print ISSN: 0022-0949
© 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
2015
J Exp Biol jeb.121970.
Article history
Received:
06 Mar 2015
Accepted:
22 Jun 2015
Currently Viewing Accepted Manuscript - Newer Version Available
01 Sep 2015
Citation
K. M. Lessner, M. Denise Dearing, I. Izhaki, M. Samuni-Blank, Z. Arad, W. H. Karasov; Small intestinal hydrolysis of plant glucosides: higher Glucohydrolase activities in rodents than passerine birds. J Exp Biol 2015; jeb.121970. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.121970
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