Extraction, isolation, characterization and prebiotic activity of fructans from Conyza sp. roots

The Conyza sp. is an annual or short-lived perennial weed of the Asteraceae family. Fructans are linear fructose polymers used in the food industry as a prebiotic nutrient, fat, and sugar substitute and in the pharmaceutical industry as a drug delivery system. The objective of this study was to chemically characterize preliminarily fructans from Conyza sp. roots: fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin-type and evaluated the prebiotic potential activity of these molecules in vitro. Chemical analyses (1H NMR, 13C NMR, GC-MS, FT-IR, and off-line ESI-HRMS) confirmed the presence of the fructans molecules in the aqueous crude extracts of Conyza sp. roots. The study of the prebiotic effect of Conyza sp. fructans in vitro showed an ability to stimulated lactobacilli strains with growth slightly similar (Conyza FOS) and smaller (Conyza inulin) than the commercial prebiotic inulin available (Orafti® GR). These data suggest that Conyza sp. a weed that causes problems agronomic can be used as a promising source to obtain fructans, compounds with potential in the food and technological industries.