Complete sucrose hydrolysis by heat-killed recombinant Pichia pastoris cells entrapped in calcium alginate.

Background: An ideal immobilized biocatalyst for the industrial-scale production of invert sugar should stably operate at elevated temperatures (60-70°C) and high sucrose concentrations (above 60%, w/v). Commercial invertase from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is thermolabile and suffers from substrate inhibition. Thermotoga maritima β-fructosidase (BfrA) is the most thermoactive and thermostable sucrose-hydrolysing enzyme so far identified and allows complete inversion of the substrate in highly concentrated solutions.