melibiose Chem.
(mɛlɪˈbaɪəʊz, -s)
[a. G. melibiose (Scheibler & Mittelmeier 1889, in Ber. d. Deut. Chem. Ges. XXII. 1684), f. G. meli-tose melitose: see bi-2 and -ose2.]
Glucose-6-α-galactoside, C12H22O11, a crystalline sugar obtained from raffinose.
| 1889 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LVI. 953 This disaccharide is, therefore, not lactobiose (lactose), which it closely resembles, but a new carbohydrate, for which the author proposes the name melibiose. 1948 [see diose]. 1970 G. C. Whiting in A. C. Hulme Biochem. Fruits I. i. 8 Kliewer..detected trace amounts of maltose and melibiose in the grape. 1975 Sci. Amer. Jan. 82/3 The molecule bears a close resemblance to two common plant galactosides: melibiose, a disaccharide (two-sugar compound), and raffinose, a trisaccharide. |
Hence meliˈbiase [a. G. melibiase (A. Bau 1895, in Chemiker-Zeitung 16 Oct. 1874/1): see -ase], an enzyme which brings about the hydrolysis of melibiose.
| 1899 J. R. Green Soluble Ferments ix. 136 Barr [sic] has extracted the enzyme from low fermentation Froberg yeast but he attributes it only to the final stage in the hydrolysis, the conversion of melibiose into glucose and galactose, and he has named it melibiase in consequence. 1943 H. Tauber Enzyme Technol. i. 28 Ale yeast does not contain melibiase, whereas lager yeast does. 1956 Nature 25 Feb. 383/1 (heading) Complementary action of melibiase and galactozymase on raffinose fermentation. |