User:Pardeep24/sandbox

Rough Draft:

Origin and structure:
Levan is a non-structural carbohydrate present in many plants and microorganism species. The original discovery of levan began through research interests in a traditional Japanese dish known as natto. Natto was known to be a sort of superfood which promoted health and longevity in Japan during the late 1800s. In 1881, Lippmann first discovered “lävulan” (levan) as the remaining gum from molasses produced in the sugar beet companies. Later on in 1901, Greig-Smith coined the name “levan” based on the levorotatory properties of this substance in polarized light. This polymer is made up of fructose, a monosaccharide sugar, connected in 2,6 beta glycosidic linkages. Levan can be in both branched and linear structures of relatively low molecular weight. In the branched version, levan forms a very small, sphere-like structure. This structure has basal chains of 9 units long which contain 2,1 branching, allowing for the methyl ethers to form and create a spherical shape. The ends of levan also tend to contain a glucosyl residue. The branched structure of levan tends to be more stable than the linear structure. However, the amount of branching and length of polymerization tends to vary among different species. The shortest levan is 6-kestose, essentially a chain of two fructose molecules and a terminal glucose molecule.

Production:
Levan is synthesized in archaea, fungi, bacteria, and a limited number of plant species. Fructans such as levan are synthesized from sucrose, a disaccharide sugar containing glucose and fructose. In plants, the vacuole is where fructan production occurs. Sucrose:sucrose/fructan 6-fructosyltransferase is the fructosyltransferase in the vacuole which creates the beta 2,6 linkages to form the linear form of levan. Bacteria also use a fructosyltransferase known as levansucrase to form levan. These enzymes in bacteria form the 2,1 linkages in the linear basal chains of levan to allow for branching points to occur. Many bacteria produce levan in the cell exterior. This production can be sensitive to temperature, oxygen concentration, pH, and other factors. Levan production in bacteria is typically a sign of growth in population. Interestingly, there are also possible ways to produce by fracturing soybean mucilage.

Properties:
Levan also contains a diverse set of properties. The beta 2,6 linkages of levan allow for it to be soluble in both water and oil, however, the temperature of the water varies the degree of solubility. Levan also is insoluble in many organic solvents such as methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, etc. The branching of levan also allow for it to have a large amount of tensile and cohesive strength, while the hydroxyl groups contribute to adhesion with other molecules. Also, the intrinsic viscosity n, a measure of the substance effect on viscosity of a solution, tends to be very low for levan. This allows levan to be utilized in a pharmaceutical setting, as will be discussed later on.

Real World Implications:
Many industries such as food, beverages, cosmetics, and even medicine utilize levan in their products. One of the reasons levan is able to be used in such a versatile way is that it is a fulfills all safety guidelines. Levan does not cause any form of skin or eye irritation, has not shown any allergenic effects, and poses no threat of cytotoxicity.

Food:
In the food industry, levan is incorporated due to its prebiotic effects, cholesterol lowering ability, and adhesion ability. It also occurs naturally in food in low amounts for human consumption. Levan is also included in many dairy products as fiber or sweetener. Commercial, non-alcoholic beverages use levan as well in ultra-high-fructose-syrups. Interestingly, levan causes useful bacterial growth and proliferation which can be especially important in the gut because it causes a decrease in population of the pathogenic bacteria.

Cosmetics:
When it comes to cosmetic care, levan can be used for hair care and skin whitening. In hair care products, levan acts to form a film which creates a hair holding effect utilized in various gels and mousses. Levan is used as a skin whitener as well because it has been tested to show inhibition on melanin production by decreasing the activity of the enzyme tyrosinase which  is responsible for melanogenesis.

Medicine:
Levan has shown uses for burned tissue, anti-inflammation, and aquaculture. By combining levan into a thin film, it is able to activate an enzyme known as metalloproteinase which increases the recovery and healing process. In the case of inflammation, levan interacts with the aggregating cells and affects their adhesion to the blood vessel causing reduced accumulation. In aquaculture, results have shown that levan incorporated diets could possibly cause an increase in aggregation of viruses allowing for easier phagocytic removal.

Weekly blog page:

Week 3:

This week I started to study a lot for my classes since midterms are rolling up soon. I didn't do much else aside from go to classes, meetings, and the gym. I had meetings almost every day of the week for the two organizations I am involved in (Stroke Force and BPSHI). Since I am a board member for BPSHI, I had three meetings; one board meeting, one general meeting, and one intern meeting. I also had a shift at Ronald Reagan this weekend as a part of my volunteering through Stroke Force. It was from 8pm to 12pm and I used most of that time to study for biochem. I am excited for next week because Avenger's comes out so that will be fun to go watch. Also, I hope to catch a break from studying to go play some football or basketball soon since the weather is getting nicer. I also have tried to keep up with the NBA playoffs, but studying for midterms has gotten in the way, luckily there's plenty of games left to watch. That's about it for week 3.

Week 4:

So far the project seems to be going well. I was able to find a bunch of articles that need editing and also that are interesting to me. I think I have narrowed down my choices to levan polysaccharide as the one I want to go with. I think this article will be interesting to edit because I remember talking about levan in chem 14C and also have learned about bonding of polysaccharides in 153A so I think it will be easier to write about for me because I will actually have knowledge of some of the stuff already. I think my project is off to a solid start even though I joined the seminar a bit later than most. As long as I find some solid sources to go off of, I will be able to improve this article greatly. I am looking forward to the interesting things I will learn that I already don't know about levan. I am also excited to see what the finished product will look like, but that will have to wait for now. One thing about the project that is really nice is that the citations are generated automatically through just the link. This allows me to focus more on the content of my article rather than the mistakes I might make when citing.

Week 5:

This week has been has been pretty good. For the most part, I have figured out what type of information I was to add into my article. The challenging part was to figure what information to include and what not to include because my sources all are very very dense in material. I don't think it would be realistic or even beneficial to include that much of a detailed page because it would be too much uneccessary information. I figured by breaking the info down into subsections, I will be able to touch on everything import. I am excited to see how the finished page is going to look. I know the next challenge is going to be how to rephrase everything without plagiarizing because the articles are already written so eloquently. Overall, I think I was able to find solid groundwork to improve my page off of and am excited to see what's next.

Week 6:

This week we started actually drafting our papers. Just as I expected, it is hard to avoid matching or close paraphrasing, but that's okay. I have found a ton of information that was missing from the original so that is really good. I want my paper to sound professional, but also remain simply enough for everyone to understand. I think my first draft is coming along pretty well. I haven't finished it yet, but I am working on it throughout this week. I want to be able to have a really good paper so I hope I receive some good constructive criticism on it. Aside from that, I feel that it is going very smoothly. It might get a bit tough because I will start studying for the midterm this week, but hopefully I will be able to do well in both. I also am worried that my word count or page length might be too low, but I am not sure. I hope week 7 is a good one.

Week 8:

This week has been good so far. I just revised my article and tried to polish up any errors I made in my draft. I also made sure to create pictures to add into my text to give it more visualization. I think one of the best pieces of advice I was given was to divide my paragraphs into sections so the paper seems evenly divided and independent. I think that really added to my paper and was a useful skill for the future. I also had a tough time at first creating the pictures to add, but once I got the hang of chemdraw I was able to create a good one. Now I've just been working on creating a presentation to showcase what I have done to my classmates. I don't think I will have too much difficulty with that part because I just have to describe exactly what I added to my article. Since my article started as nothing, I pretty much added most of it. I am looking forward to finalizing my article and presenting.

Links for papers to edit:

Levan polysaccharide

Depsidone

M1G

BOP reagent

Pheophorbide A

-These all seem to have enough room for expansion - Dr. Tienson-Tseng