Fucosylated oligosaccharides, such as 2'-fucosyllactose in human milk, have important biological functions such as prebiotics and preventing infection. In this work, the effect of an acceptor substrate (lactose) and the donor substrate 4-nitrophenyl-α-L-fucopyranoside (pNP-Fuc) on the synthesis of a fucosylated trisaccharide was studied in a transglycosylation reaction using α-L-fucosidase from Thermotoga maritima. Conducting a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), it was demonstrated that synthesized oligosaccharide corresponded to a fucosylated trisaccharide, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of the hydrolyzed compound confirmed it was fucosyllactose. As the concentration of the acceptor substrate increased, the concentration and synthesis rate of the fucosylated trisaccharide also increased, and the highest concentration obtained was 0.883 mM (25.2% yield) when using the higher initial lactose concentration (584 mM). Furthermore, the lower donor/acceptor ratio had the highest synthesis, so at the molar ratio of 0.001, a concentration of 0.286 mM was obtained (32.5% yield).

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Fucosylated oligosaccharides play important physiological roles in humans, including in the immune response, transduction of signals, early embryogenesis and development, growth regulation, apoptosis, pathogen adhesion, and so on. Efforts have been made to synthesize fucosylated oligosaccharides, as it is difficult to purify them from their natural sources, such as human milk, epithelial tissue, blood, and so on. Within the strategies for its in vitro synthesis, it is remarkable the employment of fucosidases, enzymes that normally cleave the fucosyl residue from the non-reducing end of fucosylated compounds, as these enzymes are also capable of synthesizing them by means of a transfucosylation reaction. This review summarizes the progress in the use of fucosidases for the synthesis of compounds that have potential for industrial and commercial applications.

Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus NCFB 2772 was employed to develop functionalized acid whey cheese (requesón) added with in situ produced exopolysaccharide (EPS) and tested as a carrier of commercial probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei ssp.paracasei. This EPS consists of glucose and galactose units, linked by β 1-4/6 bonds.The optimum temperature of EPS biosynthesis at pH 4.6 was 37°C (0.274 mg/mL of whey). Four different requesón formulations were prepared and analyzed in terms of texture properties and color. The addition of EPS increased the production yields, improved hardness, elasticity, and adhesiveness, and slightly decreased the L* component of color (luminosity). This study supports the utilization of acid whey wastes to obtain functional cheese such as requesón in which the EPS component can not only improve processing yields but also increase the values of hardness, elasticity and adhesiveness and slightly decrease luminosity of the product.