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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5289-5296, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00257-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Screening for and Identification of Starch-, Amylopectin-, and Pullulan-Degrading Activities in Bifidobacterial Strains

Sinéad M. Ryan,1,2 Gerald F. Fitzgerald,1,2,3 and Douwe van Sinderen1,2*

Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre,1 Departments of Microbiology,2 Food and Nutritional Sciences, Bioscience Institute, National University of Ireland, Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland3

Received 1 February 2006/ Accepted 17 May 2006

Forty-two bifidobacterial strains were screened for {alpha}-amylase and/or pullulanase activity by investigating their capacities to utilize starch, amylopectin, or pullulan. Of the 42 bifidobacterial strains tested, 19 were capable of degrading potato starch. Of these 19 strains, 11 were able to degrade starch and amylopectin, as well as pullulan. These 11 strains, which were shown to produce extracellular starch-degrading activities, included 5 strains of Bifidobacterium breve, 1 B. dentium strain, 1 B. infantis strain, 3 strains of B. pseudolongum, and 1 strain of B. thermophilum. Quantitative and qualitative enzyme activities were determined by measuring the concentrations of released reducing sugars and by high-performance thin-layer chromatography, respectively. These analyses confirmed both the inducible nature and the extracellular nature of the starch- and pullulan-degrading enzyme activities and showed that the five B. breve strains produced an activity that is consistent with type II pullulanase (amylopullulanase) activity, while the remaining six strains produced an activity with properties that resemble those of type III pullulan hydrolase.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, University College Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland. Phone: 353 21 4901365. Fax: 353 21 4903101. E-mail: d.vansinderen{at}ucc.ie.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5289-5296, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00257-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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