Galacturonans methyl ester

The specificity of pectinesterase is not so marked with respect to the alcohol moiety of the ester, as it hydrolyzes ethyl esters of D-galacturonans at a rate 6-16% that of de-esterification of the methyl esters.36 Citrus natsudaidai pectinesterase de-esterifies the ethyl esters of pectic acid at a rate l/5th to l/7th of that for the methyl esters the propyl and allyl esters are attacked at l/20th to l/80th of the rate.38 The tomato, citrus, alfalfa, and papaya pectinesterases do not hydrolyze the glycol and glycerol esters of pectin.39... 

Fig. 1. — Effect47 of Tomato Pectinesterase on the Activity of Pectate Lyase Acting on Highly Esterified Pectin. [Reaction mixtures contained 0.5% of D-galacturonan (broken line) or poly(D-galacturonic acid methyl ester) methyl glycoside (solid lines), 5 mM CaCl2, 33 mM phosphate buflFer (pH 7.0), and 0.25 unit of lyase in a final volume of 3.0 ml. In addition, the reaction mixture represented by the middle curve contained 0.031 unit of tomato pectinesterase in a final volume of 3.3 ml.] Reprinted, with permission, from M. Lee and J. D. Macmillan, Biochemistry, 9, 1930-1934 (1970). Copyright by the American Chemical Society.

Another method is based on the same principle,112 in which the [14C]labelled methyl ester of D-galacturonan is prepared by esterification of pectic acid with [,4C]diazomethane. In the course of the enzymic de-esterification, aliquots are removed, and the unreacted substrate is precipitated with acidified ethanol or 1-propanol. After centrifugation, the labelled methanol in the supernatant liquor is determined in a liquid scintillation counter. An advantage of this method lies in the possibility of using, as substrates, short-chain oligo-D-galactosiduronates partially esterified with [14C]methanol. These substrates, beginning with the trisaccharide, are not soluble in 1 4 80% phenol-diethyl ether, which is used for the extraction of enzymically released, labelled methanol. 

The data reported in table 1 show that the pectin fi action in active cells is rich in methyl-esterified galacturonans, whereas the resting cells contain mostly low-ester acidic pectins. 

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