Characterization of a Novel β-Galactosidase from Bifidobacterium adolescentis DSM 20083 Active towards Transgalactooligosaccharides

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Abstract
This paper reports on the effects of both reducing and nonreducing transgalactooligosaccharides (TOS) comprising 2 to 8 residues on the growth of Bifidobacterium adolescentis DSM 20083 and on the production of a novel β-galactosidase (β-Gal II). In cells grown on TOS, in addition to the lactose-degrading β-Gal (β-Gal I), another β-Gal (β-Gal II) was detected and it showed activity towards TOS but not towards lactose. β-Gal II activity was at least 20-fold higher when cells were grown on TOS than when cells were grown on galactose, glucose, and lactose. Subsequently, the enzyme was purified from the cell extract of TOS-grown B. adolescentis by anion-exchange chromatography, adsorption chromatography, and size-exclusion chromatography. β-Gal II has apparent molecular masses of 350 and 89 kDa as judged by size-exclusion chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, respectively, indicating that the enzyme is active in vivo as a tetramer. β-Gal II had an optimal activity at pH 6 and was not active below pH 5. Its optimum temperature was 35°C. The enzyme showed highestV max values towards galactooligosaccharides with a low degree of polymerization. This result is in agreement with the observation that during fermentation of TOS, the di- and trisaccharides were fermented first. β-Gal II was active towards β-galactosyl residues that were 1→4, 1→6, 1→3, and 1↔1 linked, signifying its role in the metabolism of galactooligosaccharides by B. adolescentis.