Molecular Mechanism of α-glucosidase

Abstract α-Glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.20), an exo-glycosylase to hydrolyze α-glucosidic linkage, is characterized by the variety of substrate specificity. Enzyme also catalyzes the transglucosylation, on which industrial interests focus due to the production of valuable glucooligosaccharides. α-Glucosidase is a physiologically important enzyme in most of organisms (microorganisms, insects, plants and animals including human). Therefore, there are many types of α-glucosidases to display unique functions, in which we are interested. This report describes the recently analyzed unique functions of α-glucosidases by mainly focusing on honeybee α-glucosidase isoenzymes, dextran glucosidase, multiple forms of rice α-glucosidases, and Escherichia coli α-xylosidase.