glucoamylase-justinh

=Making Glucose Syrup Using the Glucoamylase Enzyme=

Glucose-filled delights

Glucoamylase is a commercial and industrial **enzyme (see next paragraph)** used by the manufacturers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Glucoamylase’s main **substrate** is plant starches, most commonly cornstarch. The Glucoamylase “cleaves” the **polysaccharides** (starch molecules) into Glucose (a sweet **monosaccharide** sugar). This is an important industrial process, because producing glucose is the first step toward making High Fructose syrup, a main ingredient in many food products. //More than half of all commercial baked goods and practically all soft drink bottlers use this syrup instead of sugar because it is sweeter and cheaper.//
 * What is Glucoamylase?**

Simply put, enzymes are a type of protein found in the body that have a specific shape, allowing them to bind with a specific molecule in order to catalyze a reaction with that molecule. The molecule that the enzyme binds with is called the **substrate**. Sometimes enzymes break down molecules (like in the case of **Glucoamylase**, but sometimes enzymes help put together molecules as well. At the simplest level, a Glucoamylase molecule (pictured right) will bind with a starch molecule. The Glucoamylase then changes it's shape, consequently breaking down the starch molecule into glucose sugar.
 * What are enzymes?**
 * So what happens?**

The Amylase enzyme is found in the pancreas and saliva of animals, and is also synthesized in plants and fungi. Enzymes are substances made and used by the body to trigger specific chemical reactions. The primary function of amylase is to break down starches in food so that the body can use them. **Glucoamylase** is derived from the fungus Aspergillus, and it specifically breaks starches down into **Glucose.**
 * Where Amylase is from:**

Amylase is widely available in nature and thus relatively easy to obtain. The process of inducing a reaction with Amylase and the starch substrate requires very few factors to monitor: temperature and pH (Glucoamylase is most effective at a pH of 4.0 - 4.5 and operates most effectively at 60°C) and thus efficiency is easy to maintain in the production of Amylase.
 * Why __Amylase__ is used to break down starches:**

http://www.enzymeindia.com/enzymes/glucoamylase.asp A great introduction to what Glucoamylase is used for.

http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/biology/enztech/glucose.html A highly technical explanation of the starch-to-glucose production cycle.

http://nte-serveur.univ-lyon1.fr/heyde/www.public.iastate.edu/_pedro/glase/glase.html Another highly technical site, with diagrams of the Glucoamylase enzyme.