New Publication in “Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts”

Cellodextrin phosphorylase is one of CARBAFIN’s key enzymes that catalyses the formation of cello-oligosaccharides out of cellobiose and glucose-1-phosphate.  Soluble cello-oligosacchararides with up to 6 monomer units are of special interest, as they are relevant for food industries as dietary fibres with prebiotic function.

For a target oriented process development, a mathematical model of the enzymatic glycosylation was developed, which is described in the paper “Kinetic modeling of phosphorylase-catalyzed iterative β-1,4-glycosylation for degree of polymerization-controlled synthesis of soluble cello-oligosaccharides

As a method of choice, a hybrid model was composed out of a mechanism-based kinetical model and an empirical part that covers the self-assembly of soluble oligosaccharides into insoluble cellulose. With the help of this model, the team was able to explore the complex relationship between process conditions used and the reaction output obtained.

The data set and models represent an important step towards optimizing the biocatalytic synthesis of soluble cello-oligosaccharides in the future.