Kinetics of enzyme-catalyzed cross-linking of feruloylated arabinan from sugar beet

Ferulic acid (FA) groups esterified to the arabinan side chains of pectic polysaccharides can be oxidatively crosslinked in vitro by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) catalysis in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to form ferulic acid dehydrodimers (diFAs). The present work investigated whether the kinetics of HRP catalyzed cross-linking of FA esterified to α-(1,5)-linked arabinans are affected by the length of the arabinan chains carrying the feruloyl substitutions. The kinetics of the HRP-catalyzed cross-linking of four sets of arabinan samples from sugar beet pulp, having different molecular weights and hence different degrees of polymerization, were monitored by the disappearance of FA absorbance at 316 nm. MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS analysis confirmed that the sugar beet arabinans were feruloyl-substituted, and HPLC analysis verified that the amounts of diFAs increased when FA levels decreased as a result of the enzymatic oxidation treatment with HRP and H2O2. At equimolar levels of FA (0.00250.05 mM) in the arabinan samples, the initial rates of the HRP-catalyzed cross-linking of the longer chain arabinans were slower than those of the shorter chain arabinans. The lower initial rates may be the result of the slower movement of larger molecules coupled with steric phenomena, making the required initial reaction of two FAs on longer chain arabinans slower than on shorter arabinans.