This paper reports on the effects of both reducing and nonreducing transgalactooligosaccharides (TOS) comprising 2 to 8 residues on the growth of Bifidobacterium adolescentis DSM 20083 and on the production of a novel -galactosidase (-Gal II). In cells grown on TOS, in addition to the lactose-degrading -Gal (-Gal I), another -Gal (-Gal II) was detected and it showed activity towards TOS but not towards lactose. -Gal II activity was at least 20-fold higher when cells were grown on TOS than when cells were grown on galactose, glucose, and lactose. Subsequently, the enzyme was purified from the cell extract of TOS-grown B. adolescentis by anion-exchange chromatography, adsorption chromatography, and size-exclusion chromatography. -Gal II has apparent molecular masses of 350 and 89 kDa as judged by size-exclusion chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, respectively, indicating that the enzyme is active in vivo as a tetramer. -Gal II had an optimal activity at pH 6 and was not active below pH 5. Its optimum temperature was 35°C. The enzyme showed highest V max values towards galactooligosaccharides with a low degree of polymerization. This result is in agreement with the observation that during fermentation of TOS, the di-and trisaccharides were fermented first. -Gal II was active towards -galactosyl residues that were 134, 136, 133, and 171 linked, signifying its role in the metabolism of galactooligosaccharides by B. adolescentis.