The maximal production of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) from lactose by (β-glycosidases from the hyperthermophilic archaea, Sulfolobus solfataricus (LacS) (derived from lacS gene) and Pyrococcus furiosus (CelB) (derived from celB gene) was optimized. The performance of these enzymes under extreme reaction conditions, temperatures up to 95°C and lactose concentrations up to 90% (w/v), were studied.

The aim of this study was to thoroughly investigate the possibility of using enzyme catalyzed hydrolysis and alcoholysis of ester bonds in vitamin A and E esters to facilitate their determination in different food formulas. Two vitamin esters, retinyl palmitate and α-tocopheryl acetate were used as model compounds and two food formulas, milk powder and infant formula, were used as model matrices.

The stability of hydroxynitrile lyase from Hevea brasiliensis has been studied in organic solvents. In dry solvents, the enzyme had half-lives in the range 1400-2500 hours. The enzyme half-life was one order of magnitude lower if the medium was water saturated. The substrates, aldehyde and hydrogen cyanide, were found to promote enzyme deactivation. The deactivation increased with substrate concen

The selectivity of preparations of α-chymotrypsin immobilized on Celite or polyamide and carrying out syntheses of di- and tripeptides in acetonitrile medium were studied. The study concerns the effect of mass- transfer limitations on three different kinds of selectivity: acyl donor, stereo- and nucleophile selectivities, defined respectively as the ratio of initial rates with different acyl donor

The addition of polyethyleneimine with a molecular weight of 2000 to chloroperoxidase from Caldariomyces fumago dramatically improved the stability of the enzyme towards peroxide dependent inactivation. The rate constant for the H 2 O 2 -dependent inactivation of chloroperoxidase decreased from 0.0016s -1 to 1.1 * 10 -5 s -1 in the presence of 1% polyethyleneimine. The stabilising effect towards

The hydrolysis and transphosphatidylation of lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), with a partially purified preparation of phospholipase D (PL D) from Savoy cabbage, was investigated. These reactions were about 20 times slower than the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine (PC) in a micellar system. For the transfer reaction, 2 M glycerol was included in the media, which suppressed the hydrolytic reaction.

Sequence analysis of Candida rugosa lipase 1 (LIP1) predicts the presence of three N-linked glycosylation sites at asparagine 291, 314, 351. To investigate the relevance of sugar chains in the activation and stabilization of LIP1, we directed site mutagenesis to replace the above mentioned asparagine with glutamine residues. Comparison of the activity of mutants with that of the wild-type (wt) lip

Rhizopus arrhizus lipase immobilized on porous polypropylene was used in an acidolysis reaction in toluene at low water activity (0.11) to exchange the fatty acid in the sn-1-position of digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG). Without extra precautions, an yield of only about 20% was obtained, mainly due to side reactions; incorporation of an extra acyl group on the primary hydroxyl of the digalactosyl

The enzymatic syntheses of 1-lauroyl-dihydroxyacetone and 1,3-dilauroyl-dihydroxyacetone were investigated. Lipase B from Candida antarctica (SP435) was used to catalyse the acylation of dihydroxyacetone (DHA) with lauric acid in organic solvent media at controlled water activity. High conversions of dihydroxyacetone (> 90%) are achieved when the water activity is 0.11 or below in solvents of vari

Immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435) was effective in the synthesis of lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC). The transesterification of L-α-glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC) and vinyl laurate was carried out in a solvent free system or in the presence of 50% (v/v) t- butanol. High conversions (>95%) were easily achieved. The lipase was selective for the sn-1 position of the glyc

Six different lipases were screened for their ability of acidolysis between digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) and heptadecanoic acid in toluene. Lipases from Geotrichum candidum, Alcaligenes sp. and Penicillium camembertii did not catalyse the acidolysis reaction. Rhizopus arrhizus and Rhizomucor miehei (Lipozyme) catalysed the acidolysis but produced a mixture of DGMG, DGDG, acyl-DGMG and acyl-DG

A combination of two enzymes, phospholipase D (PL D) and C (PL C), was investigated for the production of two lysophospholipids, 1-lauroyl-rac- glycerophosphate (1-LGP) and 1-lauroyl-dihydroxyacetonephosphate (1-LDHAP). The high transphosphatidylation ability of phospholipase D from Streptomyces sp. allowed the formation of 1-lauroyl-phosphatidylglycerol (1-LPG) and 1- lauroyl-phosphatidyldihydrox

Two different immobilisation techniques for lipases were investigated: adsorption on to Accurel EP-100 and deposition on to Celite. The specific activities were in the same order of magnitude, 2.9 (μmol min -1 mg protein) when Celite was used as support and 2.3 (μmol min -1 mg -1 protein) when Accurel EP-100 was used as support, even if the amount of lipase loaded differed by 2 orders of magnitude

Enzymatic synthesis of cetyl palmitate was performed in a solvent-free system at 65 °C using immobilized Candida antarctica lipase. Batch reactions at controlled water activity showed that the yield could be increased from 88.8 to 99.1% by decreasing the water activity from 1 to 0.05. A continuous reactor configuration was constructed, where two tubular reactors were run in sequence with a separat

(S)-Hydroxynitrile lyases from Hevea brasiliensis, Manihot esculenta, and Sorghum bicolor and (R)-hydroxynitrile lyase from Prunus amygdalus have been used as biocatalyst for the enantiospecific addition of hydrogen cyanide to aldehydes in organic solvents. The effects of the reaction parameters on the enzymatic reaction rate and product enantiomeric excess (e.e.) are presented. The reaction rate