A novel 1,6-α-d-mannosidase was produced by
Aspergillus phoenicis grown on a commercial manno-oligosaccharide preparation in liquid culture. The enzyme hydrolysed only α-d-Man
p-(
1→6)-d-Man
p and did not act on α-d-Man
p-(
1→2)-d-Man
p, or α-d-Man
p-(
1→3)-d-Man
p. The 1,6-α-d-mannosidase was used for synthesis of manno-oligosaccharides by reverse hydrolysis reaction. The highest yields, expressed as percentages (w/w) of total sugar, were
21 % mannobiose and
5 % mannotriose, and they were obtained with 45 % (w/w) initial mannose concentration at pH 4.5 after 12 days incubation at 55°C. The disaccharide and trisaccharide products were separated and their structures determined by methylation analysis. Only 1–6 linkages were found in both of them.