For the identification of pectin in food ingredients. This kit now employs a new pectate lyase from Aspergillus niger.
INTRODUCTION:
Pectins consist of the partial methyl esters of polygalacturonic acid and their sodium, potassium, calcium and ammonium salts, obtained by extraction in an aqueous medium of appropriate edible plant material, usually citrus fruits or apples. Pectin is recovered from solution by precipitation with an appropriate organic solvent such as ethanol, methanol or isopropanol. In some pectins, a portion of the methyl esters may have been converted to primary amide groups by treatment with ammonia under alkaline conditions. Older methods for the identification of pectin involve solvent precipitation. These methods are non-specific. The method described here measures the increase in absorption at 235 nm on cleavage of pectate by a highly purified and specific enzyme, pectate lyase1.
KITS:
Kits suitable for performing 500 assays are available from Megazyme and consist of:
1. Concentrated Pectate Lyase enzyme
2. Low ester pectin extracted from citrus peel
3. High ester pectin extracted from citrus peel
4. Partly amidated low ester pectin from citrus peel
5. Pectin from sugar beet pulp
6. Iota carrageenan