Full Length Research Paper

Phytate degradation by Leuconostoc mesenteroides KC51 cultivation in soymilk

Nam-Soon Oh¹ and Man-Jin In²*

¹Department of Food Science and Technology, Kongju National University, Yesan 340-802, Korea.

²Department of Human Nutrition and Food Science, Chungwoon University, Hongseong 350-701, Korea.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: manjin@chungwoon.ac.kr or manjinin@yahoo.com.   Tel.: +82-41-630-3278. Fax: +82-41-632-3278.

Accepted 21 April, 2009

The phytate-degrading activity of Leuconostoc mesenteroides KC51 isolated from Kimchi was evaluated. When the phytase activity was measured in cultured broth on Lactobacilli MRS medium, the activity was detected in harvested cell suspension but not in the extracellular medium. The optimum pH was determined to be pH 5.5. L. mesenteroides KC51 cultivation in autoclaved soymilk resulted in a significant reduction of phytate content. After 9 h, around 47% of phytate had disappeared, and phytate content tended to stabilize around 50% of its initial value at the end of the 18 h fermentation. And decrease of phytate content was associated with L. mesenteroides KC51 cell growth during fermentation. 

Key words: Leuconostoc mesenteroides, phytate degradation, soymilk.