Materials and Reagents

1. Microcentrifuge tubes 1.5-2 ml
2. CarboPac PA1 analytical column (4 x 250 mm) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, catalog number: 035391 )
3. CarboPac PA1 guard column (4 x 50 mm) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, catalog number: 043096 )
   
4. Maize seedlings
   
5. 4-nitrophenyl α-L-arabinofuranoside (4NPA) (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: N3641 )
   
6. 4-nitrophenol (NP) (spectrophotometric grade) (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: 1048 )
   
7. DL-Dithiothreitol (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: D0632 )
   
8. Quick Start^TM Bradford 1x Dye (Bio-Rad Laboratories, AbD Serotec^®, catalog number: 5000205 )
   
9. Sodium Acetate Anhydrous (NaOAc) (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: W302406 )
   
10. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: 306576 )
    
11. L-(+)-ARABINOSE (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: W325501 )
    
12. NaN₃
    
13. Na₂CO₃
    
14. NaOCl
    
15. Glacial acetic acid
    
16. Ice
    
17. MilliQ water (18 MΩ-cm)
    
18. 5% (w/w) solution of NaOCl (see Recipes)
    
19. 0.03% (w/w) NaN₃ (see Recipes)
    
20. 50 mM NaOAc buffer (pH 6.0) with 3 mM of dithiothreitol on 0.03% (w/w) NaN₃ (see Recipes)
    
21. 10 mM 4NPA (see Recipes)
    
22. 1 M Na₂CO₃ (see Recipes)
    
23. Calibration solutions for NP (see Recipes)
    
24. 50% (w/w) NaOH solution (see Recipes)
    
25. 15 mM NaOH (buffer A for HPAEC) (see Recipes)
    
26. 1 M NaOAc in 0.1 M NaOH (buffer B for HPAEC) (see Recipes)
    
27. Calibration solutions for arabinose (see Recipes)
    

Equipment

1. Spectrophotometer (required wavelength is 405 nm)
   
2. Thermostat (required temperature is 27 °C)
   
3. Microcentrifuge (required spin rate is 10,000 x g)
   
4. Thermoshaker (required temperature and spin rate are 37 °C and 600 rpm, correspondingly)
   Note: Thermoshaker should be appropriate for incubation of microcentrifuge tubes.
   
5. Mini centrifuge/vortex
   
6. Analytical balance with 0.1 mg readability
   
7. Ion chromatography system DX-500 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dionex) equipped by electrochemical detector ED40, gradient pump GP40 and chromatography oven LC 30
   
8. Refrigerator (required temperature is -20 °C)
   
9. Automatic pipettes (100-1,000, 20-200 and 2-20 μl)
   
10. Mortar and pestle
    
11. Plastic grid and the tray of proper size
    Note: The cell of grid should be approximately 1 cm² or slightly bigger.
    

Software

1. PeakNet software (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dionex, model: version 5.21)

Procedure