Effect of endo‐xylanase‐containing enzyme preparations and laccase on the solubility of rye bran arabinoxylan

Three commercial enzyme preparations with endo‐xylanase activity, namely Bio‐Feed Wheat, Bio‐Feed Plus and Grindamyl H 640, and laccase have been tested for their effects on the solubilisation of arabinoxylan (AX) in rye bran or autoclaved rye bran. Autoclaving efficiently increased the availability of AX for enzymatic degradation. Both Bio‐Feed Wheat (a monocomponent enzyme) and Bio‐Feed Plus (a multicomponent preparation with different enzymatic activities) efficiently degraded the autoclaved rye bran AX into lower‐molecular‐weight fragments. As much as 70% of the xylose residues and 58% of the arabinose residues in the autoclaved bran were soluble after treatment with Bio‐Feed Plus; the weight—average molecular weight of the detectable portion of these soluble polymers was 104 000 Da. Grindamyl H 640 solubilised only a small fraction of the AX in autoclaved rye bran; the molecular weight of these soluble fragments was higher than that of those released by the Bio‐Feed xylanases. Addition of laccase during treatment with Bio‐Feed Wheat or Grindamyl H 640 decreased the yield of water‐soluble AX. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry