LAUSR

The gene encoding β-galactosidase was cloned from Bifidobacterium longum RD47 with combinations of several bifidobacterial promoters and expressed in B. bifidum BGN4. Among the recombinant bifidobacteria, BGN4+G1 showed the highest β-galactosidase level, for which the hydrolytic activity was continuously 2.5 to 4.2 times higher than that of BGN4 and 4.3 to 9.6 times higher than that of RD47. The β-galactosidase activity of BGN4+G1 was exceedingly superior to that of any of the other 35 lactic acid bacteria. When commercial whole milk and BGN4+G1 were reacted, BGN4+G1 removed almost 50% of lactose in the milk already at 63 h and finally 61% at 93 h. This figure is about twice the lactose removal rate of conventional fermented milk. In the case of the reaction of commercial whole milk and crude enzyme extract from BGN4+G1, the β-galactosidase of BGN4+G1 eliminated 51% of the lactose in milk in 2 h. Incidentally, a comparison was done for the strength and characteristics between the strong bifidobacterial promoters shown by previous studies.