Properties of Alpha Amylase

Alpha amylase is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of starch into sugars. Alpha amylase exists in the saliva of humans and some other mammals, which is also the start of its chemical process of digestion. Alpha Amylase Powder is a kind of non-GMO, harmless, feed-grade and industrial-grade enzyme. Next, Yiming will take you into α-amylase to understand the properties of α-amylase:

(1) Under the protection of high-concentration starch, alpha amylase has strong thermal stability. With the presence of an appropriate amount of calcium salt and table salt, 5.3-7.0 in pH value t 93~95 ℃ in temperature, it can still be maintained high activity. For the convenience of preservation, an appropriate amount of calcium carbonate is often added as an anti-caking agent to prevent caking.

(2) alpha amylase can hydrolyze the α-1,4-glycosidic bond inside the starch into dextrin, oligosaccharide and monosaccharide. After the effect of this enzyme, the viscosity of gelatinized starch will lower quickly,  so it is also known as liquefaction amylase, liquefaction enzyme, α-1,4-dextrinase.

(3) When alpha amylase uses amylose as the substrate, the reaction is generally carried out in two stages. First, the amylose is rapidly degraded into oligosaccharides. At this stage, the viscosity of the amylose and its ability of color reaction  with iodine will rapidly decrease. Reaction in the second stage is much slower than that of the first stage and involves slow hydrolysis of oligosaccharides to its final products glucose and maltose. Alpha amylase acts on amylopectin to produce glucose, maltose and a series of restricted dextrins (oligosaccharides composed of 4 or more glucose groups), the latter all containing alpha-1,6-glycosidic linkages.

(4) The alpha amylase molecule contains a very firmly bound calcium ion which does not directly participate in the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex. Its function is to retain the structure of the enzyme and thereby maximize stability and vitality of it.

(5) Concerning its different origin, the optimum pH of α-amylase is between 4.5 and 7.0. The optimum pH ofalpha amylase obtained from human saliva and porcine pancreas is comparatively narrow, between 6.0 and 7.0, while alpha amylase has a wide range of optimum pH, which is between 5.0 and 7.0; the optimum pH of Bacillus stearothermophilus amylase is about 3.0;of sorghum sprout alpha amylase, 4.8~ 5.4; of wheat alpha amylase, around 4.5. When the pH value is lower than 4, the activity decreases significantly, but when it exceeds 5, the activity decreases slowly.

Currently, alpha amylases are found in a wide range of applications in the food industry, such as baking, brewing, preparation of digestive aids, production of cakes, fruit juices and starch syrups. Alpha amylase for sale, as a professional enzyme company in China, Yiming can provide you a variety of starch at attractive prices. Welcome to order our products!