Question

______ is called saccharifying amylase.

• A. Alpha amylase
• B. Beta amylase
• C. Gamma amylase
• D. Reverse amylase

Hint:

In the baking and brewing industries, remember this distinction: \(\alpha\)-amylase is the "liquefying" enzyme because it breaks long chains randomly to thin the paste, while \(\beta\)-amylase is the "saccharifying" enzyme because it produces maltose units.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Amylases are glycoside hydrolase enzymes that catalyze the breakdown of starch into simpler sugars.
They are classified into alpha, beta, and gamma types based on their specific mechanism of glycosidic bond cleavage and target sites.

Step 2: Detailed Explation:
Starch is composed of amylose (linear chains of \(\alpha\)-1,4 glycosidic bonds) and amylopectin (branched chains with both \(\alpha\)-1,4 and \(\alpha\)-1,6 glycosidic bonds).
- \(\alpha\)-Amylase: This is an endo-enzyme that randomly hydrolyzes interl \(\alpha\)-1,4-glucosidic bonds.
By breaking down the large starch macromolecules into smaller dextrins, it rapidly reduces the viscosity of starch pastes.
Thus, \(\alpha\)-amylase is widely referred to as the liquefying amylase.
- \(\beta\)-Amylase: This is an exo-enzyme that acts from the non-reducing ends of starch chains.
It sequentially cleaves off successive maltose (disaccharide) units, which are fermentable sugars.
Because it directly produces large quantities of sweet, fermentable sugar (maltose), it is referred to as the saccharifying amylase (or saccharifying enzyme).
- Gamma-amylase (glucoamylase) is also an exo-enzyme that cleaves single glucose units, but \(\beta\)-amylase is traditiolly defined as the saccharifying amylase in brewing and malting technology.

Step 3: Fil Answer:
Beta amylase is known as the saccharifying amylase due to its exo-acting sugar-producing mechanism.
Hence, the correct option is (B).