Novel enzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharides

Industrial applications of enzyme catalysts are mostly hydrolysis reactions. But increasing attention is given to enzymatic synthesis reactions. The possibility of obtaining efficient synthesis reactions without involving costly cofactors is illustrated by examples taken in the field of oligosaccharide production.

Three main approaches are considered:

• reversion of hydrolysis reactions, by shifting the position of the reaction equilibrium,

• “transhydrolytic”; reactions, using the transferase activity of hydrolytic enzymes,

• transfer reactions, catalyzed by transferase enzymes.

The respective advantages and drawbacks of these three approaches are compared.

The oligosaccharides thus obtained are of interest in different fields of application: food and feed ingredients, pharmaceutical and immunological products, cosmetic additives, for example.