Selection of lactic acid bacteria strain for simultaneous production of α- and β-galactosidases

Abstract

Galactosidases are group of enzymes gaining increasing attention in recent times due to the fact they catalyse hydrolysis of galatose-containing oligosaccharide, which reduce digestibility of various food and feed products. Microbial production of galactosidases is the most efficient and widely used. The aim of this study was to selects strain of lactic acid bacteria which can be used as producer of both, α- and β-galactosidases, since bacteria with such properties can be used for improving digestibility of products containing soybean and milk derivatives. In preliminary selection only intracellular activity of α- and β-galactosidases was detected and Lactobacillus reuteri was selected as the most adequate producer of both enzymes. In subsequent experiments, fermentation was optimized with respect to produced intracellular activity of both enzymes using spectrophotometric enzyme assays. Enzymes were characterized with respect to their temperature and pH optima. It was revealed that the most effective factor for production of enzymes is the selection of inducer. The addition of lactose induced production of β-galactosidase, while raffinose was the most efficient inducer of α-galactosidase production. Further improvement of enzyme production was achieved by optimization of inoculum concentration.