Biochemical characterization of extracellular fructosyltransferase from Aspergillus oryzae IPT-301 immobilized on silica gel for the production of fructooligosaccharides.

OBJECTIVE: Extracellular fructosyltransferase (FTase, E.C.2.4.1.9) from Aspergillus oryzae IPT-301 was immobilized on silica gel by adsorption and biochemically characterized aiming at its application in the transfructosylation reaction of sucrose for the production of fructooligossaccarides (FOS). RESULTS: The transfructosylation activity (AT) was maximized by the experimental design in function of the reaction pHs and temperatures. The AT of the immobilized enzyme showed the kinetics behavior described by the Hill model. The immobilized FTase showed reuse capacity for six consecutive reaction cycles and higher pH and thermal stability than the soluble enzyme. CONCLUSION: These results suggest a high potential of application of silica gel as support for FTase immobilization aiming at FOS production.