Potential applications of carbohydrases immobilization in the food industry.
Carbohydrases find a wide application in industrial processes and  products, mainly in the food industry. With these enzymes, it is possible to obtain different types of sugar syrups (viz. glucose, fructose and inverted sugar syrups), prebiotics  (viz. galactooligossacharides and fructooligossacharides) and isomaltulose, which is an interesting sweetener substitute for sucrose to improve the sensory properties of juices and wines and to reduce lactose in milk. The most important carbohydrases to accomplish these goals are of microbial origin and include amylases (α-amylases and glucoamylases), invertases, inulinases, galactosidases, glucosidases, fructosyltransferases, pectinases and glucosyltransferases. Yet, for all these processes to be cost-effective for industrial application, a very efficient, simple and cheap immobilization technique is required. Immobilization techniques can involve adsorption, entrapment or covalent bonding of the enzyme into an insoluble support, or carrier-free methods, usually based on the formation of cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs). They include a broad variety of supports, such as magnetic materials, gums, gels, synthetic polymers and ionic resins. All these techniques present advantages and disadvantages and several parameters must be considered. In this work, the most recent and important studies on the immobilization of carbohydrases with potential application in the food industry are reviewed.
Laboratory of Food Biochemistry, Department of Food Science, College of Food Engineering, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Monteiro Lobato Street, 80, 13083-862,  P.O. Box 6121, Campinas, SP, Brazil. fabiano.contesini@gmail.com.
Fabiano Jares
FJ
Contesini
Joelise
J
de Alencar Figueira
Haroldo Yukio
HY
Kawaguti
Pedro Carlos
PC
de Barros Fernandes
Patrícia
P
de Oliveira Carvalho
Maria
M
da Graça Nascimento
Hélia Harumi
HH
Sato
D001628:Beverages; D003611:Dairy Products; D004800:Enzymes, Immobilized / Q000378:metabolism*; D019649:Food Industry / Q000379:methods*; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods*; D056692:Prebiotics; D013213:Starch / Q000378:metabolism
D004800:Enzymes, Immobilized; D056692:Prebiotics; D013213:Starch; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; C019822:carbohydrase