Leuconostoc mesenteroides sucrose synthesis

Kitao, S., Ariga, T., Matsudo, T., and Sekine, H. 1993. The synthesis of catechin-glucosides by transglycosylation with Leuconostoc mesenteroides sucrose phosphorylase. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 57, 2010-2015. 

A reducing disaccharide, consisting of D-glucose and D-fructose, named levjcrose 214) is formed in the reaction mixture to the extent of about 3 % during the synthesis of dextran from sucrose by an enzyme isolated from the microorganism Leuconostoc mesenteroides. Its specific rotation is [a]o —6.8° (in water) m.p. 161-162°C. Methylation studies show that its structure is 5-0-a-D-glucopyranosyl-D-fructopyranose. 

Glucansucrases are elaborated by Lactobacilli (Leuconostoc and Streptococcus species) and catalyze the synthesis of glucans from sucrose. In 1954, Jeanes et al. (1) surveyed 96 L. mesenteroides species that produce glucans from sucrose and found that the glucans... 

The synthesis of dextran from sucrose by a cell-free bacterial culture filtrate was first reported by Hehre in 1941 [152]. The genera of bacteria that are recognized to produce enzymes capable of synthesizing polysaccharides from sucrose are principally Leuconostoc and Streptococcus. These genera are gram positive, facultatively anaerobic cocci that are very closely related to each other. One notable difference between them is that the L. mesenteroides strains required sucrose in the growth medium to induce the formation of the enzyme(s), whereas the Streptococcus species did not require sucrose in the medium to form the enzymes [153]. 

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