DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2015.v03i01.012

Pages: 57-65

Oligosaccharides are very well recognized as ‘functional food ingredients’ because of their positive effects on human health. This research work focuses on the microbial production of Fructosyl Transferase (FTase) and the production of Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) by transfructosylation using this enzyme. Fructooligosaccharides are industrially produced from sucrose by microbial enzymes with transfructosylating activity. Fructosyltransferase is produced intra- and extracellulraly by several microorganisms including bacteria and fungi. Despite the large number of microbial FTase producers, only a few of them have the potential for industrial application and were focused in several studies about FOS production. The increasing interest in prebiotic compounds opens also possibilities for small-scale use of FTase. In the present study fungus Aureobasidium pullulans was used to produce FOS and effect of different physical and chemical parameters on FOS production were studied. The analysis of the product was performed by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).