Page "Sequencing" Paragraph 18

Though polysaccharides are also biopolymers, it is not so common to talk of ' sequencing ' a polysaccharide, for several reasons.

Although many polysaccharides are linear, many have branches.

Many different units ( individual monosaccharides ) can be used, and bonded in different ways.

However, the main theoretical reason is that whereas the other polymers listed here are primarily generated in a ' template-dependent ' manner by one processive enzyme, each individual join in a polysaccharide may be formed by a different enzyme.

In many cases the assembly is not uniquely specified ; depending on which enzyme acts, one of several different units may be incorporated.

This can lead to a family of similar molecules being formed.

This is particularly true for plant polysaccharides.

Methods for the structure determination of oligosaccharides and polysaccharides include NMR spectroscopy and methylation analysis.