Production of Inulinases: Recent Advances

Inulinaze su bitni enzimi u proizvodnji fruktoze i fruktooligosaharida, koji imaju raznovrsnu primjenu u farmaceutskoj i prehrambenoj industriji. Proizvode se pomoću raznih sojeva plijesni, kvasaca i bakterija. Dosad okarakterizirane inulinaze imaju raznovrsna biofizička i biokemijska svojstva. Optimalna temperatura i termostabilnost dva su važna kriterija pri određivanju njihove prikladnosti za industrijsku primjenu. Izolirane su inulinaze velike termostabilnosti iz plijesni Aspergillus sp. i termofilnih bakterija. Molekularnim kloniranjem gena za inulinazu iz razlicitih izvora otkriveno je da, osim ponavljajucih jedinica polipeptidnog lanca, endo- i egzoinulinaze imaju strukturne uzorke koji se razlikuju u tim dvjema vrstama enzima. U ovom su revijalnom prikazu iznesena najnovija dostignuca u proizvodnji i karakterizaciji inulinaza iz razlicitih mikroorganizama te mogucnosti njihove primjene.Inulinases constitute an important class of enzymes for production of fructose and fructooligosaccharides, which are extensively used in pharmaceutical and food industry. The production of inulinases has been reported from various fungal, yeast and bacterial strains. The inulinases characterized until now show considerable variability with respect to biophysical and biochemical characteristics. High temperature optimum and thermostability are two important criteria which determine the suitability of these enzymes for industrial applications. Inulinases with high thermostability from strains of Aspergillus spp. and thermophilic bacteria have been reported. Molecular cloning of inulinase genes from different sources has revealed that beside conserved domains, the endo- and exo-acting inulinases show motifs which are distinct for the two classes of enzymes. The present article reviews some of the recent advances in the production and characterization of inulinases from different microbes and their possible applications