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Oligosaccharide
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A metabolic pathway diagram for Escherichia coli showing how various nutrients-including sugars, fats, glycerol, and amino acids-are broken down into intermediates like pyruvate and acetyl-CoA, leading to the production of energy and other metabolites such as lactate, glutamate, and succinate. Arrows indicate the flow of metabolites between compounds, with key nutrient sources and products highlighted in colored boxes.
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Oligosaccharide

biochemistry
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Oligosaccharide, any carbohydrate of from three to six units of simple sugars (monosaccharides). A large number of oligosaccharides have been prepared by partially breaking down more complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides). plants

Most of the few naturally occurring oligosaccharides are found in plants. Raffinose, a trisaccharide found in many plants, consists of melibiose (galactose and glucose) and fructose. Another plant trisaccharide is gentianose. Maltotriose, a trisaccharide of glucose, occurs in some plants and in the blood of certain arthropods.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Kara Rogers.