Production of inulinase, fructosyltransferase and sucrase from fungi on low-value inulin-rich substrates and their use in generation of fructose and fructo-oligosaccharides.

Owing to applications in the food and nutraceutical industries, inulinases, fructosyltransferases and sucrases have gained considerable attention in recent times. Twenty-five fungal strains were screened for production of these enzymes on three different media formulated using inulin-rich plant extracts prepared from asparagus root, dahlia tuber and dandelion root extract. Culture filtrates of the fungi were examined for hydrolytic activities. Fungi belonging to genus Aspergillus, A. niger GNCC 2655 (11.3 U/ml), A. awamori MTCC 2879 (8.2 U/ml), A. niger ATCC 26011 (7.9 U/ml) secreted high titers of inulinase followed by Penicillium sp. NFCCI 2768 (2.6 U/ml) and Penicillium citrinum MTCC 1256 (1.1 U/ml). High sucrase activity was noticed in A. niger GNCC 2613 (113 U/ml) and A. awamori MTCC 2879 (107.8 U/ml). Analysis of end products of inulinase action by HPLC revealed that most of the enzymes were exo-inulinases liberating fructose exclusively from inulin. Five fungi, P. citrinum MTCC 1256, Penicillium rugulosum MTCC 3487, Penicillium sp. NFCCI 2768, A. fumigatus GNCC 1351 and A. niger ATCC 26011 however, produced a mixture of endo- and exo-inulinases liberating oligosaccharides (GF3 and GF2) along with fructose. High inulinase/sucrase yielding strains were evaluated for extracellular and intracellular hydrolytic and transfructosylating activities and intracellular enzyme profiles were found to be considerably different in terms of titers and end products.