Synthesis of prebiotic galactooligosaccharides by microbial -galactosidase

Anita Srivastava, Subhash Chand and Saroj Mishra Department of Biochemical Engg. & Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, Phone: 011-26596145 E mail: anitasri27@gmail.com Abstract: Prebiotic galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are sugars composed of 3-10 molecules of galactose and 1 molecule of glucose. GOS are produced by a series of reactions catalyzed by -galactosidase, where the glycosyl group of one or more Dgalactosyl units is transferred onto the galactose moiety of lactose by the process of transgalactosylation. GOS are mainly used in infant milk formula, bakery products, beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Preliminary studies have been
carried out for galactooligosaccharide production by transgalactosylating -galactosidase.

Screening of microorganisms for -galactosidase production was carried out with few standard and isolated microorganisms. Most of the microbial cultures used belong to Kluyveromyces sp. Maximum -galactosidase activity of 245 U/ g dry wt. was obtained with Kluyveromyces marxianus 1078 followed by 150, 133, 129 and 106 U/g dry wt with Kluyveromyces marxianus NCIM 3465, Kluyveromyces lactis MTCC 4063, Kluyveromyces marxianus NCIM 3551 and isolated strain A1 respectively. It was found that most of these yeast strains possessed high transgalactosylating galactosidase activity with synthesizing efficiency of diand tri-

galactooligosaccharides. The transformation of lactose to galactooligosaccharides was carried out by permeabilized whole cell biocatalysts and the products were analysed by thin layer chromatography.
Keywords: Galactooligosaccharides, -galactosidase, Kluyveromyces sp., transgalactosylation,