Simulation of the conformational flexibility of the mycodextran under external forces.

Mycodextran-also known as nigeran-is an unbranched polysaccharide made of α-d-glucopyranose units alternatively connected by (1 → 3) and (1 → 4) glycosidic linkages produced intracellularly by Aspergillus niger and Penicillium crustosum. In this work we examine possible enforced conformational transitions in the glucopyranose rings in the nigeran oligosaccharide chains. In order to simulate such structural changes we used the Enforced Geometry Optimization (EGO) method.