• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.490-495
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• 1990

The extracellular inulinase from Bacillus spp. was purified to a single protein through a sequence of operations including ammonium sulfate fractionation, heat treatment, DEAE Sepharose C1-6B ion exchange chromatography, Sephadex 6-100 and Sephadex 6-150 gel filtration. The purified enzyme was confirmed to be a $\beta$ -D-fructofuranosidase(EC 3.2.1.26) which was much more active on sucrose than on inulin(I/S = 0.2). The maximal inulinase activity was observed at pH 6.0 and at the temperature of $50^{\circ}C$. The mo1ecular weight of the enzyme was about 56, 000. Tryptophan and histidine residues of the enzyme molecule were found to be essential for its catalytic activity.