Enzymatic synthesis of novel oligosaccharides from N-acetylsucrosamine and melibiose using Aspergillus niger α-galactosidase, and properties of the products.

Two kinds of oligosaccharides, N-acetylraffinosamine (RafNAc) and N-acetylplanteosamine (PlaNAc), were synthesized from N-acetylsucrosamine and melibiose using the transgalactosylation activity of Aspergillus niger α-galactosidase. RafNAc and PlaNAc are novel trisaccharides in which d-glucopyranose residues in raffinose (Raf) and planteose are replaced with N-acetyl-d-glucosamine. These trisaccharides were more stable in acidic solution than Raf. RafNAc was hydrolyzed more rapidly than Raf by α-galactosidase of green coffee bean. In contrast, RafNAc was not hydrolyzed by Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase, although Raf was hydrolyzed well by this enzyme. These results indicate that the physicochemical properties and steric structure of RafNAc differ considerably from those of Raf.