Oligosaccharide synthesis in the banana and its relationship to the transferase activity of invertase

Abstract

The starch, sucrose and monosaccharide content of bananas of the variety Musa cavendishii has been investigated during ripening. In agreement with earlier workers using similar varieties it has been observed that starch is converted into glucose, fructose and sucrose during this process. A trisaccharide also formed during the ripening process has been crystallized from banana extracts and provisionally identified as 6G-B-fructosylsucrose. The hydrolytic and transferase activities of banana invertase have been demonstrated in vitro. The oligosaccharides formed have been compared chromatographically with the above trisaccharide and those components of the yeast invertase-sucrose reaction having similar Rf values. Conclusions are drawn about the transferase activity of banana invertase in vivo.