Combinatorial enzyme digestion of arabinoxylan to produce feruloyl oligosaccharids with antioxidant capacity

Authors: Wong, Dominic; Batt Throne, Sarah; Orts, William

Submitted to: Advances in Enzyme Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/12/2025
Publication Date: 9/15/2025
Citation: Wong, D., Batt Throne, S.B., Orts, W.J. 2025. Combinatorial enzyme digestion of arabinoxylan to produce feruloyl oligosaccharids with antioxidant capacity. Advances in Enzyme Research. 13930:35-41. https://doi.org/10.4236/aer.2025.133003.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/aer.2025.133003

Interpretive Summary: The production and use of non-digestible oligosaccharides as prebiotics has been a thriving industry. The health cause-effects of these products are linked to modulation of the human gut environment. The combinatorial enzyme technique invented by our group has been applied to generate libraries of various functional oligosaccharides from wheat flour insoluble hemicellulosic polymers. In the present study, active species of feruloyl oligosaccharides have been isolated showing antioxidant activity that may be beneficial to suppression of oxidative stress in addition to other common prebiotic effect.

Technical Abstract: The combinatorial enzyme approach was employed to convert pretreated wheat insoluble arabinoxylan oligosaccharides. The feruloyl oligos (FOS) were isolated by preparative chromatography, and the active fractions pdemonstrated to possess both antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The FOS showed a MIC value of 1% (w/v, 35C, 24 hr.) suppressing cell growth of the ATCC 8739 E. coli test organism. The FOS species was also found simultaneously to possess antioxidant activity. The Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity of FOS was measured at 1% concentration to be 636+7 'M using an electron transfer based method.