In enzymology, an inulin fructotransferase (DFA-III-forming) is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that catalyzes

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 the chemical reaction

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...

Produces alpha-D-fructofuranose beta-D-fructofuranose 1,2':2,3'-dianhydride (DFA III) by successively eliminating the diminishing (2->1)-beta-D-fructan (inulin) chain from the terminal D-fructosyl-D-fructosyl disaccharide.

This enzyme belongs to the family of lyase

Lyase

In biochemistry, a lyase is an enzyme that catalyzes the breaking of various chemical bonds by means other than hydrolysis and oxidation, often forming a new double bond or a new ring structure...

s, specifically those carbon-oxygen lyases acting on polysaccharides. The systematic name of this enzyme class is 2,1-beta-D-fructan lyase (alpha-D-fructofuranose-beta-D-fructofuranose-1,2':2,3'-dianhydride- forming). Other names in common use include inulin fructotransferase (DFA-III-producing), inulin fructotransferase (depolymerizing), inulase II, inulinase II, inulin fructotransferase (depolymerizing,, difructofuranose-1,2':2,3'-dianhydride-forming), inulin D-fructosyl-D-fructosyltransferase, (1,2':2,3'-dianhydride-forming), inulin D-fructosyl-D-fructosyltransferase (forming, and alpha-D-fructofuranose beta-D-fructofuranose 1,2':2,3'-dianhydride).

Structural studies

As of late 2007, two structures

Tertiary structure

In biochemistry and molecular biology, the tertiary structure of a protein or any other macromolecule is its three-dimensional structure, as defined by the atomic coordinates.-Relationship to primary structure:...

 have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB

Protein Data Bank

The Protein Data Bank is a repository for the 3-D structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids....

accession codes and .