Studies on bioconversion of d galactose from seaweeds to d tagatose using immobilized cell suspension of Lactobacillus fermentum

Abstract

D-Tagatose a low calorie sweetener has been produced by enzymatic method by the isomerization of D-Galactose extracted from Caulerpa racemosa Caulerpa lentillifera and a species from red seaweed - Gelidium amansii using immobilized Lactobacillus fermentum cell suspension The seaweeds Caulerpa racemosa Caulerpa lentillifera and Gelidium amansii are edible soft and succulent in nature The carbohydrate composition in C lentillifera C racemosa G amansii is found to be 66 % 68 % and 75 % respectively andthe D-Galactose content is around 13 % 13 % and 11 % (w/w) respectively The abundant availability of these seaweeds in nature can be a very good source for production of the D-Tagatose All the three seaweeds were collected from the Ramnad coastal region in Tamilnadu India and it was cleaned washed shade dried pulverized and sieved in a sieve tray of mesh size 0 85 mm The approximate composition of D-Galactose was also determined The extraction of D-galactose was carried out by acid hydrolysis of the extract and analysed by HPLC after neutralization The extract was found to contain 2 6 mg/ml 2 4 mg/ml and 2 6 mg/ml of D-Galactoserespectively The D-Galactose was eluted on an anion exchange column containing DEAE Cellulose 52 and 0 15MNaCl newline