Invertase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae SAA-612: Production, characterization and application in synthesis of fructo-oligosaccharides

•Among nine yeast strains screened, Saccharomyces cerevisiae SAA-612 showed highest invertase activity.•Response Surface Methodology led to 24 fold enhancement in production of invertase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae SAA-612.•The invertase from S. cerevisiae SAA-612 exhibited good potential for the synthesis of fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS).

Production and characterization of invertase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae SAA-612 were carried out and transfructosylation activity was also studied for the synthesis of fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS). Optimization of invertase production following Response Surface Methodology resulted in 24 fold increase in the production of invertase activity of S. cerevisiae SAA-612. Optimum temperature and pH for invertase activity were observed to be 40 °C and 6.0, respectively. The enzyme was found to be stable at 30 °C and 40 °C. Km and Vmax of invertase of S. cerevisiae SAA-612 were calculated to be 11 mM and 434.7 U/mg protein, respectively. The maximum FOS synthesis was observed with 250 mg sucrose and 2.5 U invertase in one ml reaction, 5.5 pH, 40 °C and 4-8 h of incubation. This investigation can be further extended to explore the prebiotic potential of synthesized FOS.