beta-D-Galactosidases have been studied extensively in terms of their application to a variety of industrial technologies. To date, considerable research efforts have been devoted to characterization of new cold-active beta-D-galactosidases which were isolated directly from selected species of bacteria and yeasts, as well as with the use of metagenomic approaches. This chapter will provide a review of current research towards cold-active...

Background: Cold-active enzymes, sourced from cold-adapted organisms, are characterized by high catalytic efficiencies at low temperatures compared with their mesophilic counterparts, which have poor activity. This property makes them advantageous for biotechnology applications as it: (i) saves energy costs, (ii) shortens the times for processes operated at low temperatures, (iii) protects thermosensitive substrates or products...

Beta-D-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) catalyze the hydrolysis of terminal non-reducing beta-D-galactose residues in beta-D-galactosides. Cold-active beta-D-galactosidases have recently become a focus of attention of researchers and dairy product manufactures owing to theirs ability to: (I) eliminate of lactose from refrigerated milk for people afflicted with lactose intolerance, (II) convert lactose to glucose and galactose which...

ArthbetaDG is a dimeric, cold-adapted beta-D-galactosidase that exhibits high hydrolytic and transglycosylation activity. A series of crystal structures of its wild form, as well as its ArthbetaDG_E441Q mutein complexes with ligands were obtained in order to describe the mode of its action. The ArthbetaDG_E441Q mutein is an inactive form of the enzyme designed to enable observation of enzyme interaction with its substrate. The...

The crystal structure of a novel dimeric [beta]-D-galactosidase from Paracoccus sp. 32d (Par[beta]DG) was solved in space group P212121 at a resolution of 2.4 Å by molecular replacement with multiple models using the BALBES software. This enzyme belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 2 (GH2), similar to the tetrameric and hexameric [beta]-D-galactosidases from Escherichia coli and Arthrobacter sp. C2-2, respectively. It is the second...