Table II.

Ratio of cellodextrin oligomeric products synthesized in maize coleoptile cell wall β-glucans synthesized in vivo from [¹⁴C]Glc

Treatment	3-mer:4-mer	3-mer:5-mer	5-mer:4-mer
Freshly excised
0.8 n NaOH	3.0	19.2	0.16
4 n NaOH	2.9	22.7	0.13
9.5 h, no sugar
0.8 n NaOH	3.0	18.5	0.16
4 n NaOH	2.9	19.8	0.15
9.5 h, 100 mm Glc
0.8 n NaOH	2.8	18.2	0.15
4 n NaOH	2.8	19.0	0.15
9.5 h, 10 mm Gal
0.8 n NaOH	2.6	17.2	0.15
4 n NaOH	2.7	21.0	0.13
Maize β-glucan	2.9 ± 0.1	19.0 ± 1.1	0.14 ± 0.003

β-Glucan was digested with the B. subtilis enzyme, and the oligomeric products were separated by HPAE-HPLC and quantified by liquid scintillation spectroscopy. Treatment of coleoptile sections was as described in Table I. Ratios of treated samples are based on radioactivity incorporated after adjustment for molar ratio; ratio for maize β-glucan is made by pulsed amperometry, with empirical calibration of the signal from sugar determinations (Dubois et al., 1956).