glycoside

American  

[glahy-kuh-sahyd] / ˈglaɪ kəˌsaɪd /

noun

Biochemistry.

1. any of the class of compounds that yield a sugar and an aglycon upon hydrolysis.

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glycoside British  

/ ˌɡlaɪkəʊˈsɪdɪk, ˈɡlaɪkəʊˌsaɪd /

noun

1. any of a group of substances, such as digitoxin, derived from monosaccharides by replacing the hydroxyl group by another group. Many are important medicinal drugs See also glucoside

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glycoside Scientific  

/ glī′kə-sīd′ /

1. Any of various organic compounds formed from a simple sugar (monosaccharide) by replacing the hydrogen atom of one of its hydroxyl groups (OH) with the bond to another biologically active molecule. Glycosides occur abundantly in plants, especially as pigments, and are used in medicines, dyes, and cleansing agents.

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Other Word Forms

• glycosidic adjective

Etymology

Origin of glycoside

1925–30; glycose (a monosaccharide) + -ide

Example Sentences

Cerberin, which is found in a handful of other plants, is a cardiac glycoside, which disrupts the electrical signaling in the heart.

From Salon

Foxglove - digitalis - is a source of digitoxin, a glycoside in the drug digitalis, which has been used as a heart stimulant since 1785.

From BBC

When the flies with the gene developed into adults, their bodies carried low levels of cardiac glycoside, useful as a defense against predation.

From New York Times

The team found that just a single copy with the initial mutation confers some glycoside resistance, a property that may have enabled the change to persist long enough for other, more beneficial mutations to occur.

From Science Magazine

This assembly, an equally scentless glycoside, stays dissolved inside the grape, waiting to be cleaved apart by a different enzyme and unleashed to announce ripeness or some other message.

From Los Angeles Times