Pectic Enzymes

The pectic substances are a group of closely related polysaccharides from the primary cell wall and intercellular regions of higher plants. These are largely responsible for integrity and coherence of plant tissue. Pectin found in primary cell wall and middle lamella of fruits and vegetables. Fruit ripening involves changes in the composition and organization of pectin, hemi-cellulose and cellulose polysaccharides of the cell wall, which take place as a co-ordinated series of assembly and disassembly step. The texture of fruit and vegetables is regulated by the content and the properties of the pectic substance. In Immature fruits they appear principally as insoluble pectin. Pectinases are a group of enzymes that attack pectin and depolymerize it by hydrolysis and trans-elimination as well as by de-esterification reaction, which hydrolyse the ester bond between carboxyl and methyl groups of pectin.