Bacterial invertases: Occurrence, production, biochemical characterization, and significance of transfructosylation

Invertase or -D-fructofuranoside fructohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.26) was one of the foremost enzyme biocatalysts and established the primary concepts of most enzyme-kinetic principles. Invertases are glycoside hydrolases and occur mostly in microorganisms. Among microbial strains, for many decades yeast species have been extensively researched for invertase production, characterization, and applications in industries. Besides, limited literature is available on invertases from bacterial strains. The enzymic and molecular biological reports from bacterial invertases are scarce. In this minireview, occurrence, production, biochemical properties, and significance of transfructosylation of bacterial invertases are reported.