Glycoengineering of Dietary Fibre Gels via Oxidative Enzymes as Symbiotic Carriers of Probiotics

Cereal processing generates large volumes of by-products, namely the bran layers that surround the starchy endosperm.

Cereal brans still have limited applications for human nutrition due to their recalcitrant nature, poor organoleptic properties and lack of digestion by the human gastrointestinal tract.

However, cereal brans contain valuable biomolecules, such as dietary fibres and phenolics, with great potential in multifunctional food products.

In this project we will engineer dietary fibre hydrogels from cereal by-products using oxidative enzymes to be used as symbiotic carriers of probiotic bacteria.

We will focus on feruloylated arabinoxylans (F-AX) from cereal brans, due to their ubiquity in our diet and their hybrid nature containing both glycan and phenolic moieties.

The gels will be stable in gastric acidic conditions and display prebiotic activity with controlled fermentation kinetics.

We will assess the influence of the engineered gels in modulating the diversity and functionality of the gut microbiota, targeting the production of beneficial metabolites (short-chain fatty acids). These symbiotic dietary fibre gels contribute to an effective use of resources and a circular food system.

Moreover, they have large potential to be used in innovative and healthy food products modulating the gut microbiota, contributing to mitigate the risks of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes and obesity.