Enzymatic production of glucooligosaccharides using dextransucrases from strains Leuconostoc mesenteroides Lm 22 and Leuconostoc mesenteroides Lm 28

Dextransucrases are enzymes that transfer the glucosyl moiety from sucrose to other acceptor molecules. In the present study, we have investigated the biosynthesis of dextransucrases by two strains of Leuconostoc mesenteroides isolated from Bulgarian fermented products. Extracellular dextransucrase activities of 10.80 U/ml for strain Lm 28 and 9.6 U/ml for strain Lm 22 were measured in a batch culture. The SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the molecular weight of the dextransucrases isolated from both strains was 180 kDa. Enzymes of the studied strains were found to efficiently transfer the glucosyl moiety of sucrose onto maltose acceptor. By increasing the sucrose/maltose ratio, it was possible to catalyze the synthesis of oligosaccharides of increasing degree of polymerization.