ブランチングエンザイムの実用化と高度分岐環状デキストリン(クラスターデキストリン^<TM>)の開発

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Starch is a mixture of two distinct polymers, amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is an essentially linear glucose polymer of which the glucosyl units are connected by α-1, 4-glucosidic linkages. Amylopectin on the other hand is a branched polymer composed of short amylose chains connected together with α-1, 6 linkages to form a characteristic cluster structure. Starch is often processed using enzymes to produce glucose, maltose, maltooligosaccharides, maltodextrin, or dextrin, which have been used in various industries including the food, pharmaceutical, paper, textile, cosmetics, and chemical sectors. The enzymes used in the relevant processes have mainly been hydrolytic enzymes such as α-amylase. We have focused instead on the potential of transferases as starch-processing enzymes, and in 1993 started development of branching enzyme, a member of the transferase group. Branching enzyme (BE, EC 2.4.1.18) is involved in the formation of branch linkages (α-1,6 linkages) of starch and glycogen in vivo. In the course of studies of BE action on amylopectin, however, we found that BE acts mainly on the inner chains connecting the cluster units of amylopectin. This reaction results in cyclization of the inner chains and degradation of amylopectin to large cyclic glucans with a limited molecular size (highly branched cyclic dextrin, HBCD). The productivity of the original BE strain was improved several thousand-fold through mutagenesis and optimization of culture conditions. Scale-up of cultivation was also achieved. After researching an industrial-scale production process for HBCD, it was launched on the Japanese market in 2002 as a food material with the trade name of Cluster Dextrin^<TM>. Cluster Dextrin is used, among other applications, for improvement of taste, as a component of sports drinks, and as a spraydrying aid.
2006-02-25

ブランチングエンザイムの実用化と高度分岐環状デキストリン(クラスターデキストリン^<TM>)の開発

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