Production of high fructose syrup from asparagus inulin using immobilized exoinulinase from Kluyveromyces marxianus YS-1

Extracellular exoinulinase from Kluyveromyces marxianus YS-1, which hydrolyzes inulin into fructose, was immobilized on Duolite A568 after partial puriWcation by ethanol precipitation and gel exclusion chromatography on Sephadex G-100. Optimum temperature of immobilized enzyme was 55 °C, which was 5 °C higher than the free enzyme and optimal pH was 5.5. Immobilized biocatalyst retained more than 90% of its original activity after incubation at 60 °C for 3 h, whereas in free form its activity was reduced to 10% under same conditions, showing a signiWcant improvement in the thermal stability of the biocatalyst after immobilization. Apparent Km values for inulin, raYnose and sucrose were found to be 3.75, 28.5 and 30.7 mM, respectively. Activation energy (Ea) of the immobilized biocatalyst was found to be 46.8 kJ/mol. Metal ions like Co2+ and Mn2+ enhanced the activity, whereas Hg2+ and Ag2+ were found to be potent inhibitors even at lower concentrations of 1 mM. Immobilized biocatalyst was eVectively used in batch preparation of high fructose syrup from Asparagus racemosus raw inulin and pure inulin, which<br />yielded 39.2 and 40.2 g/L of fructose in 4 h; it was 85.5 and 92.6% of total reducing sugars produced, respectively.<br />