Enzymatic Preparation of Wheat Bran by Endo-1,4-Β-Xylanase from Neocallimastix Patriciarum and In Vitro Fermentation of Wheat Bran Hydrolysates

The objective of this project was to prepare water-soluble hydrolysates from wheat bran (WB) through the treatment of endo-1,4-β-xylanase from Neocallimastix patriciarum, and investigate the fermentability of WB hydrolysates in a batch in vitro environment with mixed human gut microbiota. The result suggests that water-soluble hydrolysates were successfully produced from enzymatic hydrolysis of WB. The Size-Exclusion High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (SEC-HPLC) analysis shows that WB hydrolysates contain oligosaccharides and monosaccharides with a molecular weight of less than 1 kDa. The qPCR results indicate that the fermentation of WB hydrolysates promotes Bifidobacterium growth irrespective of the initial Bifidobacterium load of the donor. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis shows that the in vitro fermentation of WB the fermentation of neither substrate showed selective effects on beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria, which suggest enzymatic hydrolysis did not improve the prebiotic effect of crude WB when tested in an in vitro system.