Potential applicaton of β-galactosidase in food science and nutrition | Uporaba β-galaktozidaze na področju živilstva in prehrane

English. β-galactosidase is an enzyme with hydrolytic and transgalactosylation activity. The origin of the enzyme dictates the balance between both activities. Industrially used β-galactosidases are obtained with recombinant production from filamentus funghi Aspergillus sp. and yeasts Kluyveromyces sp. Recently thermostabile β-galactosidases have been subject of many research. The enzyme can be industrially used in free or immobilized form. Immobilization often provides better stability, reusability and lower expenses. Application of β-galactosidase is most common in food processing and nutrition, it is also used in medicine and ecology. Hydrolytic activity of the enzyme has long been used for reducing lactose content in milk, while transgalactosylitic activity is used for synthesis of products such as galactooligosaccharides, lactosucrose and others. The latter have a great potential in food industry for obtaining products with reduced lactose content and increasing of nutritional value by adding dietetic fibers such as galactooligosaccharides. Despite the potential it is vital that reaction mechanisms become better understood and optimization is in place in order to reach the usability of this enzyme at industrial level.

Slovenian. β-galaktozidaza je encim s hidrolitično in transgalaktozilacijsko aktivnostjo. Vrsta aktivnosti je odvisna od izvora encima. V industriji uporabljene β-galaktozidaze so pridobljene z rekombinantno produkcijo iz nitastih gliv Aspergillus sp. in kvasovk Kluyveromyces sp. V zadnjem času se vedno bolj preučujejo β-galaktozidaze, ki optimalno delujejo pri nizkih ali visokih temperaturah. V industrijskih procesih se β-galaktozidaza uporablja v obliki prostega encima ali v imobilizirani obliki. Imobilizacija pogosto ponuja večjo stabilnost encima, možnost ponovne uporabe ter znižanje stroškov. β-galaktozidaza se pretežno uporablja na področju živilstva in prehrane, v zadnjem času pa ima znatno vlogo tudi v medicini. Hidrolitična aktivnost β-galaktozidaze se že dolgo izkorišča za zmanjšanje vsebnosti laktoze v mleku, medtem ko z reakcijami transgalaktozilacije iz laktoze lahko sintetiziramo različne produkte, kot so galaktooligosaharidi, laktosaharoza in drugi. Prav slednji imajo velik potencial v živilski industriji zaradi pridobivanja izdelkov z zmanjšano vsebnostjo laktoze in izboljšanja prehranske vrednosti živil s proizvodnjo galaktooligosaharidov. Kljub temu je potrebno bolje razumeti reakcijske mehanizme kot tudi optimizirati procese, da bo uporaba encima za ta namen dosegla industrijsko raven.