Releasing healthy isoflavones from Soyabean

Soyabeans are a rich source of protein and have been shown to provide a number of health benefits. They contain isoflavones which are considered an important food supplement as they can act as powerful antioxidants. 

Found in four different forms in soyabeans, isoflavones are not easy to extract using industrial processes, as the enzymes required to hydrolyse them are destroyed in extreme conditions.

A novel enzyme from Alicyclobacillus herbarius (Ahe) - an extremophilic organism, which is effective in extreme processing conditions - was investigated as a means to hydrolyse the main isoflavone glucosides present in soybean flour.

The enzyme was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli, and its structure determined using macromolecular crystallography (MX) on the I04 research instrument at Diamond.

AheGH1 was then characterised under different operational conditions and applied to hydrolyse the main isoflavone glucosides present in soyabean flour.

Read the paper to discover their findings.