DIGESTION OF WHEAT ALEURONE BY COMMERCIAL POLYSACCHARIDASES

Aleurone cells possess cell walls that cannot easily be digested by monogastric animals because they lack the appropriate enzymes. Therefore, pretreatment of aleurone cells with cell wall degrading enzymes may disclose the valuable protein within the cells. The cell walls, containing large quantities of glucans and arabinoxylans, were degraded to a larger extent by a commercial cellulase preparation than by a commercial glucanase preparation. The effects of the enzyme digestions were assessed by analysis of the reduced sugars and total sugars formed upon digestion, by methylation analysis and by pyrolysis mass spectrometry (PyMS). Methylation analysis showed that xylan was mainly degraded by the enzyme preparation. The PyMS results showed that pentosans were solubilised from the residues.