Characterization of new oligosaccharide converted from cellobiose by novel strain of Bacillus subtilis

Six bacterial strains isolated from various Korean fermented foods were cultured in cellobiose-containing medium to investigate their potential for producing new kind of oligosaccharides. After bacterial culture in a liquid medium, each culture medium was concentrated and analyzed. TLC analysis revealed that only one strain (Bacillus subtilis SS-76) produced new spot on the TLC plate, indicating that it could converts cellobiose into a new oligosaccharide. Following purification of the culture supernatant of B. subtilis SS-76, the fractions containing the oligosaccharide produced were pooled, and the concentrated fraction was analyzed for its chemical and structural characteristics. By using various analytical techniques such as sugar composition analysis, glycosidic linkage analysis, and molecular weight determination, the new oligosaccharide was identified as glucotriose connected with (1 → 4) and (1 → 3) glycosidic linkages. In addition, the result of specific enzyme catalysis suggested that the new glucotriose might contain only β-configurations in their anomeric configurations.