Cereal Chem 51:809 - 820.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Arabinoxylanases and Cellulases of Wheat.

J. F. Schmitz, C. E. McDonald, K. A. Gilles, and D. G. Medcalf. Copyright 1974 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Enzymes of six varieties of wheat and their mill fractions were assayed by viscosity reduction (endoenzyme) and sugar analysis (exoenzymes) with flour pentosans and carboxymethyl cellulose as substrates, and by o- nitrophenyl-beta-D-xyloside hydrolysis. Endoactivity on pentosans was mainly in the bran and shorts and absent in all but three of the flours. Arabinose from side chains and xylose from the main chain were produced by enzymes from grain and mill fractions. Both endo- and exocellulases were present in grain and mill fractions. Grain and mill fractions were active on nitrophenyl-beta-D-xyloside. Steeping of wheat, which caused a significant decrease in falling number value, did not cause a marked activation of endopentosanase, endocellulase, or xylosidase activity. Hydrolysis of pentosans by enzymes of Selkirk grain first rapidly reduced viscosity and released arabinose sugar, then released xylose sugar.