Molecular and functional properties of a xylanase hydrolysate of corn bran arabinoxylan

Enzymatic hydrolysis of arabinoxylans to prepare arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides has been of high interest from the commercial point of view. However, some arabinoxylans, such as those extracted from corn bran, tend to be difficult to hydrolyze into oligosaccharides due to their highly branched structure which limits the action of xylanases. This research presents a new arabinoxylo-oligosaccharide preparation by enzymatic treatment of corn bran with an endoxylanase enzyme. The native arabinoxylan had a molecular weight of 253 kDa and the hydrolysate polymers ranged from 51.6 to 132 kDa. The hydrolyzates showed improved solubility in contrast to the original sample. The molecular properties of the hydrolyzates were related to the enzyme concentration used in the hydrolysis process, with increasing enzyme concentration leading to decreasing molecular weight and size. Solution viscosity of the samples also decreased with increasing enzyme concentration. All of the hydrolyzates showed emulsifying ability that was comparable to the original arabinoxylan.