• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.40-44
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• 1998

A Penicillium strain which produces $eta$-galactosidase with high transgalactosylation activity, was isolated from soil and registered as Penicillium sp, KFCC 10888. When $eta$-galactosidase from Penicillium sp. KFCC 10855 reacted with 40% lactose, transgalactosylation ratio reached up to 70% at the 73% conversion of initial lactose. The biosynthesis of the enzyme in Penicillium sp. KFCC 10888 was not induced by lactose. The soybean meal was an effective component of the culture medium. The optimum pH and temperature for transgalactosylation were 4.0 and 55$^{\circ}C$, respectively. The production of galactooligosaccharides was in proportion to the initial lactose concentration. When the enzyme reacted with 40% lactose (pH 4.0) at 55$^{\circ}C$, the concentration of galactooligosaccharides increased up to 40% of total solid concentration.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.502-506
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• 1995

A Bacillus strain which produces ${\beta}-galactosidase$ with high transgalactosylation activity, was isolated from soil and tentatively designated as Bacillus sp. A1. When ${\beta}-galactosidase$ from Bacillus sp. A1 reacted with 40% (w/w) lactose, transgalactosylation ratio reached up to 90% at the 70% conversion of the initial lactose. The biosynthesis of the enzyme in Bacillus sp. A1 required lactose as an inducer and was repressed by glucose. Observing that the addition of amino acids to culture medium resulted in enhancing, to a significant extent, both the growth and the enzyme production of the strain, yeast extract and commercially available hydrolysates of protein were examined for the suitability as amino acid source. As it turned out, SMP, an enzymatic hydrolysis product of soybean protein from Fuji Oil Co.(Japan), was the most suitable for optimization of the culture medium. When Bacillus sp. A1 was cultured in the presence of 0.5% SMP and 2% lactose, the enzyme activity increased up to $1.8\;U/m{\ell}-broth$.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.507-511
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• 1995

In an attempt to improve the productivity of ${\beta}-galactosidase$ from Bacillus sp. A1, which was isolated from soil and has remarkably higher transgalactosylation activity than lactose hydrolysis activity, a chemical mutation procedure using N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine followed by selection was conducted. The final selection, designated as Bacillus sp. A4442, turned out to show a substantially increased enzyme productivity. Catabolite repression by glucose and lactose requirement as an inducer for the enzyme biosynthesis, which were shown in the parent strain, was markedly diminished; instead it was found out that galactose acts as another inducer. Because pH of medium, one of the most important factors for cell growth as well as enzyme production, is closely related with the sugar concentration during culture, it was kept in the optimum range of $6.5{\sim}7.5$; for this the initial glucose concentration was adjusted to be 0.5% which was thereafter maintained by the controlled pumping-in of lactose using the pH-stat technique. By doing so, we were able to increase the productivity of ${\beta}-galactosidase$ with high transgalactosylation activity up to $44\;unit/m{\ell}-broth$.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.333-337
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• 1996

For continuous production of galactooligosaccharides(GOS), $\beta-galactosidase$ with h1gh transgalactosylation activity from Bacillus sp. A 4442 was Immobilized onto $Diaion^{TM}$ HPA 75(styrene-divinylbenzene resin). The parameters influencing enzyme immobilization were scrutinized in order to maximize immobilization yield while minimizing enzyme inactivation. The optimum conditions turned out to be: Tris buffer concentration 30 mM, pH 8.0, contact time at room temperature 3 hr, and enzyme loading 25 mg protein/g resin. Both the thermal stability and the operational stability of immobilized enzyme were markedly enchanced by the treatment with 0.5% glutaraldehyde as a cross-linker. Under the experimental conditions established, the yield of ${\beta}-galactosidase$ immobilization was 40% or more and the activity of the immobilized enzyme ca. 200 U/g resin. When a packed-bed reactor was employed to continuously convert lactose to GOS, the specific production, which refers to as the amount of commercially valuable GOS produced by a unit amount of immobilized ${\beta}-galactosidase$, was found to be ca. 300 g GOS/g carrier.