Starch germination

Maltose Digestion by amylase or hydrolysis of starch. Germinating cereals and malt. ... 

Diastase or amylase is formed when malt is produced by the germination of barley grains. Malt is therefore a good source of the enzyme. Diastase is also secreted by the salivary glands (when it is known as ptyalin), and also by the pancreas. Its function is to hydrolysef starch to a mixture of maltose and dextrin ... 

In 1833 an amylase from germinating barley was recovered and called diastase (1). Like malt itself, this product converted gelatinized starch into sugars, primarily maltose. Shordy thereafter, BerzeHus proclaimed the existence of non-living catalysts, and Schwaim (2) reported on his observation and purification of pepsin. 

Enzymes are also added to catalyze the hydrolysis or saccharification of starch. Malt produced by the germination of barley grain contains the enzymes that catalyze this hydrolysis. Sometimes called diastase, the enzymes are primarily a- and 6-amylase. Glucoamylase is a pure enzyme that can now be used. Both diastase and glucoamylase hydrolyze starch polysaccharide to the disaccharide, maltose. For fuel grade ethanol production, hydrolysis takes place at temperatures ranging from about 120°F to 140°F (50°C to 60°C) for about 1 hour. The final product of hydrolysis is called a wort. Solids can be filtered from the wort before continuing. 

Starch derived from maize, potatoes, barley, cassava or other somces must be pretreated with hydrolytic enzymes (amylases, amyloglucosidase, proteases), which carry out liquefaction, saccharification and protein hydrolysis, respectively, before it can be fermented by yeasts and other microorganisms into potable or non-potable alcohol. Enzymes can be added in the form of malt (germinated barley) or koji (germinated rice), but this is expensive. Therefore, industrial enzymes have nearly totally replaced malt and koji as enzyme sources, thereby not only improving the economics but also the predictability of the process. 

Other applications for PGRs include the enhancement of crop establishment through the promotion of roots from cuttings, the prevention of sprouting in storage potatoes and the stimulation of germination and hence of starch hydrolysis in malting barley prior to fermentation. 

Maltose. This sugar is found in suybean. and is produced by the action of ihe enzyme diastase of germinated barley (mall) on starch at 50°C. and is thus an intermediate product in the transformation of starch into alcohol. Maltose CnHiaOn- ILO. melting point IOtf C. when rapidly heated, may be crystallized from the concentrated malt syrup after removal of proteins and insoluble material. Maltose reduces ammonio-cupric salt solulion. and forms osazone. 

In the germination of cereal seeds, it was long known by brewers that if the embryo was excised (or dead) the endosperm would not be hydrolyzed and sugars would not be released. In 1960, Paleg showed that amylolytic activity in the embryo-less half could be fully restored in the presence of gibberellin. In other words, the substance that passed from the embryo to the endosperm (or rather, to the living cells of the aleurone layer that encloses the dead endosperm) induces there the synthesis of a-amylase which is responsible for hydrolysis of the stored starch reserves held in the endosperm. The extent to which the a-amylase was induced became another bioassay for gibberellin. 

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