RESUMO
Bacillus pumilus X-6-9 isolated from soil and subsequently identified, produced xylooligosaccharides with long chains from xylan and accumulated them in the culture. By improving the culture conditions and mutating the bacterium, a 3.2-fold increase in the production of the xylooligosaccharides was established, when compared to the original culture conditions of B. pumilus X-6-19. The addition of D-glucose to the culture of the mutant strain U-3 of B. pumilus X-6-9 repressed the synthesis of beta-xylosidase, but not xylanase. Thus, it was revealed that strain U-3 was a good organism for the production and accumulation of xylooligosaccharides with long chains from xylan by a microbial culture. Xylanase produced by strain U-3 was purified to homogeneity and characterized. The hydrolyzates generated by the purified xylanase contained xylobiose, xylotriose, xylotetraose, and xylopentaose, but not xylose.