Bindability and digestibility of high-pressure-treated starch with glucoamylases from Rhizopus sp.

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the bindability and digestibility of raw corn starch with two types of glucoamylase [EC 3.2.1.3] from Rhizopus sp., Gluc1 and Gluc2, was investigated in the range of 100 to 600 MPa. Pressurization of raw starch at 100 to 300 MPa for 1 h had no detectable effect, whereas pressurization at higher pressures than 400 MPa markedly enhanced the bindability and digestibility with Gluc1 and Gluc2, especially with Gluc2, which scarcely binds to raw starch and has much lower activity than Gluc1 towards raw starch. The binding constants Ks of Gluc1 and Gluc2 for the 400-MPa-pressurized starch reached 16 and 1.6 x 10(5) M-1, respectively, as compared with the Ks of 2.1 and 0.082 x 10(5) M-1 for raw starch. The 500- to 600-MPa-pressurized starch was digested by Gluc1 and Gluc2 at about 4.2 and 80 times higher rates, respectively, than raw starch. Thus, the high-pressure-treated starch was hardly distinguishable from high temperature (75 to 100 degrees C)-treated starch at least with respect to behavior with the enzymes, although some difference was observed between these starches by scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry.