Effect of moisture on the activity of oat lipase in the olive oil substrate system.

Use of oil substrates has found very limited
application in the enzyme work on cereal
lipases. Sullivan and Howel used 0.5 grn.
of ground wheat for 1 gm. of oil, 10 ml of
water and 10 ml of buffer in the reaction
mixture which gave low titration figures as
compared to the performance of the watersoluble
substrate like triacetin. Singer, Thomas
and Hofstee2 ; Miller, Byron and Kummerow3;
and Houston, Roberts and Kester4 also used
water-soluble substrates. On the other hand,
Widhe and Onselius5 studied lipolysis in
doughs made from various cereal flours including
oats (20 gm. flour +10 gm. bakers
margerine+10 gm. sucrose +2 gm. water)
and likewise Hutchinson, Martin and Moran's,
in order to simulate conditions in dough making,
used a mixture of extracted oat meal flour and
olive oil with 36% moisture, in their studies
on the lipolytic activity in oats. No systematic
attempts, has, however, been made to study
the influence of moisture content in the oil
substrate system vis-a-vis the activity of oat
lipases. The present investigation deals with
this aspect of lipase activity and the application
of the findings to other cereal flours is being
investigated.