The use of plant fibers for oligosaccharide production with libraries constructed by combinatorial enzyme technology

Combinatorial chemistry involves the chemical or biological synthesis of libraries of the diverse structural population of a template molecule and the screening for the variants expressing desirable target properties. The approach has been a focus of research activity in modern drug discovery and biotechnology for accelerating the discovery and development of novel therapeutic and bioactive compounds. This review describes the application of combinatorial chemistry in enzyme technology as a novel technique and invention developed in our laboratory to construct oligosaccharide libraries in the conversion of plant fibers. The theory, mechanism, development, and application of this combinatorial enzyme approach are presented for the first time. The potential food and non-food uses of oligosaccharides are described. Citrus pectin and wheat insoluble fiber have been used as substrates for combinatorial enzyme reactions. Generation of libraries of structural variants of pectic oligosaccharides (oligoGalA) and feruloyl oligosaccharides (FOS) demonstrates the feasibility and usefulness of the technique in the transformation of plant biomass to value-added products.