Pectin extraction from cell wall

Effects of Freezing and Frozen Storage on the Characteristics of Pectin Extracted from Cell Walls... 

The polysaccharide compositions of potato cell walls have been genetically manipulated for two main reasons first to attempt to understand the functions of the different cell-wall polysaccharides, and second to improve the value of potato pulp waste. The yield of pectin extracted from the pulp would be improved by decreasing the proportion of cellulose in the walls. The gelling quality of this pectin would also probably be improved by reducing the proportion of RG-1 side chains (Sorensen et al., 2000). 

Citrus fruits, especially certain of their component parts, constitute one of the richest sources of pectin. On a dry weight basis, as much as 30% of orange fruit albedo may be pectin (8). The rag, comprising the fruit core and segment membranes after juice extraction, is also a rich source. Since pectin is a cell wall component, it follows that comparatively little would be present in juice expressed from fruit. For example, concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 0.13% in orange juice have been reported (15). Much of this would be present as cell wall fragments and particulate material in juice pulp and cloud. 

Even though all plants contain pectin in their cell walls, not all interest as a commercial source of extraction. In general, industries consider the yield, time, availability, and cost of extraction (among others) as criteria for selecting the raw material. Currently, pectin is sought from industry coproducts, and agrowastes, adding value to the production chain [59, 78,97]. 

Detergent Methods. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) methods (2), later modified for human foods (13), measure total insoluble plant cell wall material (NDF) and the cellulose—lignin complex (ADF). The easily solubilized pectins and some associated polysaccharides, galactomaimans of legume seeds, various plant gums, and seaweed polysaccharides are extracted away from the NDF. They caimot be recovered easily from the extract, and therefore the soluble fiber fraction is lost. 

These acidic molecules might result from either the lack of PMT activity or the action of PME, known to be present in most plant cell walls. Pectin methyltransferases and pectin methylesterases extracted from active and resting cells were therefore characterized. 

To study the cell wall alterations diiring processing in detail, total pectic fractions were separated by extraction of AIR from fresh, blanched and sterilized beans with acetate buffer, CDTA and NajCOj. Analysis showed that sterilization caused a lai e increase in the amount of buffer soluble pectins (Figure 1). 

Some by-products from the food industry contain high proportions of plant cell walls which can be used in human nutrition to produce "dietary fibre" or "functional fibre", i.e. compounds which can be used for their water-holding/binding properties, oil-binding capacity,... or as a source of polysaccharides such as pectins which are suitable after extraction, as gelling or thickening agents. 

To date, the structural features of pectic polysaccharides and plant cell walls have been studied extensively using chemical analysis and enzymatic degradation. In addition, research on isolation and physicochemical characterisation of pectin from citrus peels, apple peels, sunflower head residues and sugar beet pulp has been reported (2). However, the pectic polysaccharides extracted from wheat straw have only previously been reported by Przeszlakowska (3). The author extracted 0.44% pectic substances from Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. 

Milieu conditions in gastrointestinal tract can influence the pectin structure and properties. Under the acid conditions of the stomach (pH 2-4) extraction of pectin from plant cell walls and hydrolysis of side chains can occur. In small intestine (pH 5-6) -elimination of main chains or de-esterification seems to be possible. In caecum and colon (pH 6-8) a strong fermentation of pectin takes place causing depolymerization to oligomers and leading to formation of short chain fatty acids and gases. The presence of OligoGalA is not yet clarified. 

Pectins were extracted from isolated cell walls of 5-week-old wheat plants using different methods. Enzymic digestions of the cell walls involved pectinases such as a commercial pectolayse or recombinant endopolygalacturonase [Maness Mort, 1989]. Chemical extractions involved the chelating agent imidazole [Mort et al., 1991] or solvolysis with anhydrous HF at 0 °C in a closed teflon line [Mort et al., 1989] followed by imidazole extraction. 

Figure 3. Titration of pectin fractions extracted from young cell walls. A, B, C, pectins extracted with boiling water D, extracted with hot EDTA. A, B, intact PFi C, demethylated PFj. Titrations were performed...

Prior to measurement of the degree of methylation and acetylation, the pectin must be extracted from the cell walls. Methods for isolating and fractionating cell walls are described in unit E3.i. The procedure can, of course, be used on commercial pectin samples. 

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