A biocatalytic approach based on B. amyloliquefaciens
levansucrase-catalyzed transfructosylation reaction was developed
for the production of levans, oligolevans and FOSs using
selected maple syrups as reaction media and source of sucrose
substrate. Contrary to the sucrose-based media in which levans
are the main products, the maple syrup-based one, at a similar
sucrose concentration, resulted in mainly oligolevans and FOSs
with low amounts of levans. These results reveal the effects of the
micro-components present in maple syrups on the end-product
profile of LS. Altering reaction conditions (substrate concentration,
reaction temperature) resulted in changes in the reaction
selectivity (transfructosylation/hydrolysis) and in the product
spectrum (levans/oligolevans/FOSs). Transfructosylation reaction
was predominantly catalyzed at lower temperature and higher
sucrose concentration. Oligolevans were the major transfructosylation
products in maple syrup 30◦Bx regardless of the reaction
conditions. In maple syrup 66◦Bx, the most abundant transfructosylation
products were oligolevans at 30 ◦C and levans at 8 ◦C.
While in Maple syrup 15◦Bx, the main end-product was FOSs at
30 ◦C and oligolevans at 8 ◦C. This study is the first to highlight
the potential of B. amyloliquefaciens levansucrase to produce FOSs,
oligolevans and levans using maple syrup as a reaction media. The
biotransformation of moderate to low-grade maple products into
high value-added enriched products is expected to broaden their
applications.