title: Recent novel applications of levansucrases.
abstract: Levansucrase catalyzes three distinct reactions depending on the fructosyl acceptor molecule, including polymerization, transfructosylation, and hydrolysis. As a key biocatalyst in the synthesis of levan and levan-type fructooligosaccharides, levansucrase has been widely and intensively studied. Due to the promising physiological effects of levan and levan-type fructooligosaccharides, they exhibit great potential in food and pharmaceutical industries. Another important point that attracts much attention is the wide substrate specificity of levansucrase toward monosaccharides, disaccharides, and aromatic and alkyl alcohols, producing diverse sucrose analogues, hetero-oligosaccharides (especially lactosucrose), and interesting fructosides. The present article summarizes and discusses the recent applications of microbial levansucrase in detail.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shuhuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Wanmeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mu
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D019649:Food Industry / Q000379:methods*; D005658:Fungi / Q000201:enzymology*; D006602:Hexosyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D006602:Hexosyltransferases; C021513:levansucrase