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INVESTIGATOR: Chen, B.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA 58105

SPATIAL LOCALIZATION AND POSITIONAL ASSEMBLY OF ENZYME ON METAL-PHENOLIC FRAMEWORK ENABLING ONE-STEP DIGESTION FOR DIETARY FIBER ANALYSIS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Dietary fiber is one of the highest volume nutritional test requests since it is a mandatory nutrient in food products. The quantification of total dietary fiber (TDF) is the interest of many food manufacturers who set content claims, addressing the dietary fiber deficiency in the US diet. In the meantime, TDF is one of the most difficult and expensive nutrient tests, due to the complicated series of steps required. The current TDF determination is an enzymatic-gravimetric method, wherein three digestive enzymes (a-amylase, protease, and amyloglucosidase) are added separately and sequentially at their individual proper pH and temperature. Such analysis is complicated, expensive, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and not easily automated. The overall focus of this research is to create a novel nanocatalyst system encompassing digestive enzymes to simultaneously determine TDF in foods. This novel nanocatalyst system would overcome technical limitations by developing a multienzyme system in which the three testing enzymes are applied simultaneously via a food-grade metal-phenolic framework (MPF) nanoparticle. This nanoparticle is anticipated to simultaneously digest food samples at a uniform temperature and pH, thus allowing standard measurement in a potentially automated system for quantification of TDF. The development of such nanocatalysts will allow commercial laboratories, as well as food manufacturers to not only improve the accuracy and precision of dietary fiber analysis, but also enhance the efficiency by modernizing the entire procedure.

OBJECTIVES: The overall goal of this research proposal is to revolutionize the current laborious enzymatic-gravimetric method for total dietary fiber analysis (TDF) by developing enzyme-MPF (metal-phenolic framework) nanocatalysts enabling one-step digestion for the rapid, inexpensive, and accurate quantification of TDF in foods. The objectives are as follows:· Objective 1. Spatial localization of single enzyme on MPF surface; Objective 2: Positional Assembly of multienzymes on MPF surface; Objective 3: Demonstrating the ability of enzyme-MPF nanocatalysts to rapidly digest food samples for dietary fiber quantification.