Characteristics of polysaccharides and protein associated with them from dried and freshly collected red alga <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tichocarpus crinitus</Emphasis>

Polysaccharides isolated by successive extraction with water at 20 and 80°C from freshly collected and dried alga T. crinitus were compared. It was shown that the yield of polysaccharides from freshly collected alga was 40–44%; from dried material, less than 25%. It was found that the amount of extracted polysaccharides and their molecular weights decreased upon storage of dried alga for three years. Polysaccharides isolated from freshly collected and dried alga had identical structures and were a mixture of κ/β- and a new X-type of carrageenan. It was shown that protein, the amount of which reached 24% in the extracts obtained at 20°C, was strongly bound to the carrageenan. The amino-acid compositions of the proteins associated with the polysaccharides isolated at 20 and 80°C were identical and had an elevated content of serine, glutamic acid, glycine, and alanine.