Rice starch is a natural source of polysaccharides that can be used as a stabilizer, thickener, binder and fat mimetic in various foods. However, untreated starch possesses limited functionality due to its poor water solubility with a densely packed granular structure of amylopectin and amylose chains. Also, it shows weak complexing ability as the only amylose participates in complex formation with a chemical compound. The objective of this study is to improve complexation ability and water solubility of rice starch by 4-α-glucanotransferase (4αGTase) treatment. Complex forming capacity was examined by fully dissolving the 4αGTase-treated rice starch in 90% DMSO by mechanical stirring and mixing with iodine solution with following UV/Vis spectrophotometer measurements. Water solubility of the starch was measured by dissolving in distilled water (5% w/v) with mechanical stirring at 25 °C and 60 °C, and drying the supernatant after centrifugation.
The complexing ability of starch was enhanced after the 4αGTase treatment. The absorbance at a peak wavelength increased, as well as the peak wavelength was shifted leftward, indicating that the type of molecules got involved in the complexation was changed. Alteration in the molecule composition and starch composition during the enzyme treatment may be due to disproportionation and cyclization by the 4αGTase. The water solubility (%) of the starch at 25 °C and 60 °C increased by 28-fold with the 4αGTase treatment regardless of the treatment time. The untreated starch showed solubility of 0.15 %, while the solubility of the 4αGTase-treated starch was about 4 - 4.5 % (w/v). It may be due to heat treatment and recrystallization which melted a granular structure and made it easier to be solubilized in water. Moreover, the increased solubility might be attributed to increase in the number of short branched chains and decrease in molecular weight.