Extracellular α-Galactosidase from Debaryomyces hansenii UFV-1 and Its use in the hydrolysis of raffinose oligosaccharides

Abstract

Raffinose oligosaccharides (RO) are the factors primarily responsible for flatulence upon ingestion of soybean-derived products. ROs are hydrolyzed by α-galactosidases that cleave α-1,6-linkages of α-galactoside residues. The objectives of this study were the purification and characterization of extracellular α-galactosidase from Debaryomyces hansenii UFV-1. The enzyme purified by gel filtration and anion exchange chromatographies presented an Mr value of 60 kDa and the N-terminal amino acid sequence YENGLNLVPQMGWN. The Km values for hydrolysis of pNPαGal, melibiose, stachyose, and raffinose were 0.30, 2.01, 9.66, and 16 mM, respectively. The α-galactosidase presented absolute specificity for galactose in the α-position, hydrolyzing pNPGal, stachyose, raffinose, melibiose, and polymers. The enzyme was noncompetitively inhibited by galactose (Ki = 2.7 mM) and melibiose (Ki = 1.2 mM). Enzyme treatments of soy milk for 4 h at 60 °C reduced the amounts of stachyose and raffinose by 100%.