Pectin plays significant industrial roles in different fields. Its physical and chemical properties make it a valuable material in the food and pharmaceutical industries (May, 1990) (21).
1.3.1. Source of dietary fiber:
The fruits and vegetables which are specially rich in pectins have dietary fiber contents in the range of 1-2%.Pectin fibers have higher hydration properties than other fibers and this property is exploited in its use as a constitutional component in foods, as in bakery products (Srivastava and Malviya, 2011) (22). Pectin's adsorbent and bulk-forming properties have confirmed its use in some multi-ingredient anti constipation and anti diarrheal medication.
1.3.2. Prebiotic effect:
Some fermentation …show more content…
Pectinolytic enzymes are classified according to their mode of action on the galacturonic part of the pectin molecule that attack pectin and depolymerize it by hydrolysis and trans-elimination as well as by de-esterification reactions into three main groups (Seymour, 2002) (30). Polygalacturonase (PGase) and pectate lyase (PLase) (EC 4.2.2.2) split the molecular chains of the respective polymers (Kashyap et al., 2001) (29). Pectin methyl esterase (PME) (EC 3.1.11) hydrolyzes the ester linkage between carboxyl and methyl groups of pectin and release methanol. Endopolygalacturonase (EC3.2.1.15) and exo-polygalacturonase (EC 3.2.1.67) are the enzymes of particular interest to industry because they act on pectin, hydrolyzing its internal and external glycosidic bonds, producing shorter pectin molecular structures, decreasing the viscosity, increasing the yield of juices, and determining the crystalline structure of the final product (Souza ,2003) …show more content…
Pectinolytic enzymes are produced by many organisms like bacteria, fungi, yeasts, insects, nematodes, protozoan and plants. Of that, microbial pectinases have more advantages as it involves in the phytopathologic process, plant–microbe Symbiosis and the decay of dead plant materials (Danielle, 2009) (33). In the industrial section, acidic pectinases are utilized in the extraction and clarification of fruit juices (Rombouts and Pilnik 1986) (34), while alkalophilic pectinases are finding large use in the degumming of ramie fibers (Cao et al. 1992) (35), retting of flax (Sharma, 1987) (36), plant protoplast formation and treatment of eluent discharged from fruit processing units (Tanabe et al.1987) (37). Although the main sources of acidic pectinases are fungi, alkaline pectinases are produced from alkalophilic bacteria, mainly Bacillus