α-L-Fucosidase from Thermotoga maritima: hydrolytic and transfucosylation activities

Fucosylated oligosaccharides play several biologically relevant roles. They are naturally present in human milk which offers to infants short- and long-term health benefits. These compounds can be obtained also by enzymatic synthesis. In this work, the effects of pH and temperature on hydrolytic and transfucosylation activities of α-L-fucosidase from Thermotoga maritima were evaluated. The optimal pH for the enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis was found in a range from 6 to 8 while the highest conversions for transfucosylation reactions were observed within the range of 7-10. The best temperature for both enzymatic activities was 95 °C. Fucosylated oligosaccharides were synthesized with the highest productivity of 3.54 mM/h at pH 8 and 95 °C. Overall, optimization of the conditions of transfucosylation reaction catalyzed by the α-L-fucosidase from Thermotoga maritima allowed for higher yields of fucosylated oligosaccharides as well as shorter reaction time and a lower concentration of the employed enzyme.

Keywords: Fucosylated oligosaccharides, fucosidase, Thermotoga maritima.