The activity of commercially available β-galactosidase from Kluyveromyces lactis is inhibited by galactose with a K i of 42 mM [28], and most microbial β-galactosidases reported previously are also strongly inhibited by galactose with K i values of 3–45 mM, such as β-galactosidases from Arthrobacter sp. [29] and Hymenaea courbaril [30], although

a β-glactosidase from Lactobacillus reuteri [15] with high galactose-tolerance have been identified (K i,gal = 115 mM) (Table 4). Furthermore, PLX-4720 solubility dmso Glucose exhibited strong inhibition to selleck products some β-galactosidases like β-galactosidase from Thermus sp. T2 [10] and β-galactosidase from S. solfataricus [31]. However, the inhibition Selleckchem BMS345541 of glucose to other β-galactosidases is less pronounced [14, 15], even a β-galactosidase from C. saccharolyticus displayed high glucose-tolerance with a K i value of 1170 mM [13]. In this study, the inhibition constant of galactose for Gal308 was 238 mM, which is about 2-fold that for β-galactosidase from L.

reuteri (115 mM). On the other hand, the inhibition constant of glucose for Gal308 was reached up to 1725 mM, which had been the highest reported inhibition constant for a β-galactosidase to date. Gal308 with high tolerance to glucose and galactose could relieve the inhibition caused by the accumulation of glucose and galactose during the hydrolysis process of lactose, and thus

improve its enzymatic activity and hydrolysis efficiency of lactose. The feature of high tolerance to galactose and glucose makes Gal308 have obvious advantage in low-lactose milk production than those commercial β-galactosidases which were sensitive to galactose. Table 4 Inhibition types and inhibitor constants ( K i ) of several β-galactosidases Enzyme source Substrate Inhibitor Inhibition type K i(mM) Reference Thermus sp. T2 ONPG Galactose Competitive 3 [10] Glucose Noncompetitive Erythromycin 50 C. saccharolyticus pNPG Galactose Noncompetitive 12 [13] Glucose Noncompetitive 1170 K. lactis ONPG Galactose Competitive 45 [14] Glucose Noncompetitive 758 L. reuteri ONPG Galactose Competitive 115 [15] Glucose Competitive 683 Arthrobacter sp. ONPG Galactose Competitive 12 [29] H. courbaril pNPG Galactose Competitive 4 [30] S. solfataricus ONPG Glucose Competitive 96 [31] Unculturable microbes ONPG Galactose Competitive 238 This study Glucose Competitive 1725 Conclusion This work isolated a novel thermostable β-galactosidase (Gal308) from extreme environment, and the recombinant Gal308 with N-terminal fusion tag displayed several novel enzymatic properties, especially high thermostability and tolerance of galactose and glucose. The new enzyme represents a good candidate for the production of low-lactose milk and dairy products.