Industrial Biotransformations

a-Glucosyl transferase
Protaminobacter rubrum
3) Process parameters
conversion: > 99.5 %
yield: 85 %
selectivity: 85 %
capacity: > 4,000 t · a –1
start-up date: 1985
production site: Mitsui Seito Co., Ltd., Japan and Südzucker AG, Germany
company: Südzucker AG, Germany; Mitsui Seito Co. Ltd., Japan
4) Product application
● Palatinose and the hydrogenated product (palatinit, isomaltulit) used as sweeteners with a similar
taste as sucrose but only 42 % of the sweetness of sucrose and with only half of the calorific
value.
● It is used as a substitute for sucrose because of the low insulin stimulation.
● The advantage of palatinose or its hydrogenated derivativ is that it is decomposed only slowly
by Streptomyces mutants and dental plaque suspensions resulting in a low cariogenic potential.
The level of acid and glucan production is decreased compared to sucrose.
5) Literature
EC 5.4.99.11
● Cabral, J., Best, D., Boross, L., Tramper, J. (1993) Applied Biocatalysis, Harwood Academic
Publishers, Chur, Switzerland
● Cheetham, P.S.J., Imber, C.E., Isherwood, J. (1982) The formation of isomaltulose by immobilized
Erwinia rhapontici, Nature 299, 628–631
● McAllister, M., Kelly, C.T., Doyle, E., Fogarty (1990) The isomaltulose synthesizing enzyme of
Serratia plymuthica, Biotechnol. Lett. 12, 667–672
● Park, Y.K.; Uekane, R.T., Pupin, A.M. (1992) Conversion of sucrose to isomaltulose by microbial
glucosyltransferase, Biotechnol. Lett. 14, 547–551
● Takazoe, I., Frostell, G., Ohta, K., Topitsoglou, Sasaki, N. (1985) Palatinose – a sucrose substitute,
Swed. Dent. J. 9, 81–87
● Tosa, T., Shibatani, T. (1995) Industrial application of immobilized biocatalysts in Japan, Ann.
N. Y. Acad. Sci. 750, 365–375
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