The patterns for the hydrolysis of β-1,3-xylo-oligosaccharides by rXYL4 were analysed by TLC. The reaction mixture containing 1 mM substrate and an appropriate amount of enzyme in 10 μl of 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.5, was incubated at 37 °C for the periods indicated. (A) Xylobiose (X2); (B) Xylotriose (X3) with 2.5 mg/ml enzyme; (C) xylotetraose (X4) with 5 μg/ml enzyme; (D) xylopentaose (X5) with 500 ng/ml enzyme. The time courses for the hydrolysis of β-1,3-xylo-oligosaccharide with various concentrations of rXYL4 were also examined. The reaction mixture containing 1 mM substrate (●, X2; ◆, X3; ■, X4; ▲, X5) and an appropriate amount of enzyme in 10 μl of 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.5, was incubated at 37 °C for the periods indicated; enzyme concentrations used were (E) 500 ng/ml, (F) 5 μg/ml and (G) 2.5 mg/ml.