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Project

Visualization of cell walls components in creal grains using fluorescently labeled enzymes.

Wheat bran is a by-product of wheat grain milling. Its use as a source of dietary fiber in human nutrition is increasing due to its nutritional profile in general and the presence of considerable levels of indigestible cereal cell wall polysaccharides in particular. In wheat bran, the most important polysaccharide is arabinoxylan (AX). For the degradation of wheat bran AX, both mechanical and enzymatic treatments can be used. In the enzymatic deconstruction of AXs, xylanases are the most important enzymes due to their endo-action. Accessory enzymes like arabinofuranosidases assist in the degradation process. The main objective of the project is to gain insight in the breakdown of cereal bran during processing, both enzymatically and mechanically, using fluorescently labeled enzyme probes and epifluorescence microscopy. This will provide insights complementary to the common quantification of hydrolysis products, since it will clarify which tissues are readily degraded or which remain intact given specific processes. Xylanases of different glycoside hydrolase families as well as arabinofuranosidases will be tested for their potential as probes and their staining specificity will be investigated. The generated probes will then be used to monitor breakdown of cereal bran by visualizing differences arising during processing.
Date:1 Oct 2011 →  30 Sep 2012
Keywords:Arabinofuranosidase, Enzyme probe, Xylanase, Wheat bran, Epifluorescence microscopy, Arabinoxylan
Disciplines:Food sciences and (bio)technology