Raffinose oligosaccharides (RO) are the factors primarily responsible for flatulence upon ingestionof soybean-derived products. ROs are hydrolyzed by
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-galactosidases that cleave
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-1,6-linkages of
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-galactoside residues. The objectives of this study were the purification
and characterization ofextracellular
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-galactosidase from
Debaryomyces hansenii UFV-1. The enzyme purified by gel filtration
and anion exchange chromatographies presented an
Mr value of 60 kDa
and the
N-terminal aminoacid sequence YENGLNLVPQMGWN. The
Km values for hydrolysis of
pNP
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Gal, melibiose, stachyose,
and raffinose were 0.30, 2.01, 9.66,
and 16 mM, respectively. The
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-galactosidase presented absolutespecificity for galactose in the
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-position, hydrolyzing
pNPGal, stachyose, raffinose, melibiose,
andpolymers. The enzyme was noncompetitively inhibited by galactose (
Ki = 2.7 mM)
and melibiose (
Ki= 1.2 mM). Enzyme treatments of soy milk for 4 h at 60
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C reduced the amounts of stachyose
andraffinose by 100%.Keywords:
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-Galactosidase;
Debaryomyces hansenii UFV-1; raffinose oligosaccharides; characterization; flatulence