An overview of levan-degrading enzyme from microbes.

Functional carbohydrates are ideal substitutes for table sugar and make up a large share of the worldwide functional food market because of their numerous physiological benefits. Growing attention has been focused on levan, a β-(2,6) fructan that possesses more favorable physicochemical properties, such as lower intrinsic viscosity and greater colloidal stability, than β-(2,1) inulin. Levan can be used not only as a functional carbohydrate but also as feedstock for the production of levan-type fructooligosaccharides (L-FOSs). Three types of levan-degrading enzymes (LDEs), including levanase (EC 3.2.1.65), β-(2,6)-fructan 6-levanbiohydrolase (LF2ase, EC 3.2.1.64), and levan fructotransferase (LFTase, EC 4.2.2.16), play significant roles in the biological production of L-FOSs. These three enzymes convert levan into different L-FOSs, levanbiose, and difructose anhydride IV (DFA IV), respectively. The prebiotic properties of both L-FOSs and DFA IV have been confirmed in recent years. Although levanase, LF2ase, and LFTase belong to the same O-glycoside hydrolase 32 family (GH32), their catalytic properties and product spectra differ significantly. In this paper, recent studies on these LDEs are reviewed, including those investigating microbial source and catalytic properties. Additionally, comparisons of LDEs, including those of their differing cleavage behavior and applications for different L-FOSs, are presented in detail.