At present, the main use of the fructans from www.selleckchem.com/products/INCB18424.html Agave is to get fermentable sugars for the manufacturing of alcoholic drinks such as tequila, mescal, and sotol [33�C36]. Therefore, some authors such as Garc��a-Aguirre et al. [17] have regarded the Agave plants as a promising source for fructose syrup production due to its high fructan content. Consequently, in Mexico several distilleries have implemented the same cooking step used in tequila or mezcal elaboration process to obtain fructose syrups. To hydrolyze the fructans, agave heads are cooked in brick ovens for approximately 36h or cooked in autoclaves for about 12h. The thermal hydrolysis of fructans in these conditions is not suitable due to undesired degradations (Maillard reaction) and the formation of by-products such as phenolic compounds from lignin which may have a significant impact on the flavor and color of these products [33�C35].

Hence, enzymatic hydrolysis based on the use of inulinases constitutes a promissory alternative approach for the production of fructose syrup from agaves. Inulinases are ��-fructan fructanohydrolases produced mainly by bacteria, fungi, and yeast. The use of exoinulinase (EC 3.2.1.80) and the endoinulinase (EC 3.2.1.7) acting either alone or combined, have been widely investigated for partial or total inulin hydrolysis [14�C16]. In the particular case of agave fructans, a relatively limited investigation had been carried out so far. For example, a commercial enzymatic preparation (Fructozyme L) with endo- and exoinulinase activities was used by Avila-Fernandez et al.

[34] to replace the thermal hydrolysis step and by Waleckx et al. [37] to substitute the conventional chemical treatment applied after cooking step, in both cases to hydrolyse the agave fructans during tequila production. On the other hand, Garc��a-Aguirre et al. [17] proposed Kluyveromyces marxianus, an endogenous strain isolated from aguamiel with capacity for inulinase synthesis which was applied to obtain fructose rich syrups from agave fructans. Generally, the procedure involving enzymatic hydrolysis appears to be very attractive. However, some kinetic aspects of the enzymatic process as well as the assessment of process parameters such as temperature, substrate concentration, and by-product production on the activity and stability of the enzyme need more special attention before their industrial Dacomitinib application.Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of temperature and substrate concentration on the hydrolysis kinetics of fructans extracted from the Agave salmiana juice subjected to a commercial inulinase preparation (Fructozyme L) acting freely.