Critical effect of ammonium ions on the enzymatic reaction of a novel transfructosylating enzyme for fructooligosaccharide production from sucrose

A crude transfructosylating enzyme from a new isolate Bacillus marcerans EG-7 required a lag period for catalytic activity during formation of fructooligosaccharides from sucrose. The lag period was markedly reduced by addition of various ammonium ions to the reaction mixture; 100 mM NH^sub 4^NO^sub 3^ enhanced the enzyme activity by 15 fold (at 40 h) reducing the lag-time from 25 h to 30 min. In contrast, partially purified enzyme completely removed the lag period while ammonium ions still accelerated the initial reaction rate.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]