Utilization of Agro-industrial Wastes for the Simultaneous Production of Amylase and Xylanase by Thermophilic Actinomycetes

Agro-industrial wastes such as sugarcane bagasse, wheat bran, rice bran, corn cob and wheat straw are cheapest and abundantly available natural carbon sources. The present study was aimed to production of amylase and xylanase simultaneously using agro-industrial waste as the sole carbon source. Seven thermophilic strains of actinomycete were isolated from the mushroom compost. Among of these, strain designated MSC702 having high potential to utilize agro-industrial wastes for the production of amylase and xylanase. Strain MSC702 was identified as novel species of Streptomyces through morphological characterization and 16S rRNA gene sequence. Enzyme production was determined using 1% (w/v) of various agro-industrial waste in production medium containing (g/100mL): K2HPO4(0.1), (NH4)2SO4(0.1), NaCl (0.1), MgSO4(0.1) at pH 7.0 after incubation of 48 h at 50°C. The amylase activity (373.89 IU/mL) and xylanase activity (30.15 IU/mL) was maximum in rice bran. The decreasing order of amylase and xylanase activity in different type of agro-industrial wastes were found rice bran (RB) > corn cob (CC) > wheat bran (WB) > wheat straw (WS) > sugarcane bagasse (SB) and rice bran (RB) > wheat bran (WB) > wheat straw (WS) > sugarcane bagasse (SB) > corn cob (CC), respectively. Mixed effect of different agro-industrial wastes was examined in different ratios. Enzyme yield of amylase and xylanase was ~1.3 and ~2.0 fold higher with RB: WB in 1:2 ratio.

Amylase production by endophytic fungi Cylindrocephalum sp. isolated from medicinal plant Alpinia calcarata (Haw.) Roscoe

Amylases are among the most important enzymes used in modern biotechnology particularly in the process involving starch hydrolysis. Fungal amylase has large applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. Considering these facts, endophytic fungi isolated from the plant Alpinia calcarata (Haw.) Roscoe were screened for amylolytic activity on glucose yeast extract peptone agar (GYP) medium. Among thirty isolates of endophytic fungi, isolate number seven identified as Cylindrocephalum sp. (Ac-7) showed highest amylolytic activity and was taken for further study. Influence of various physical and chemical factors such as pH, temperature, carbon and nitrogen sources on amylase production in liquid media were studied. The maximal amylase production was found to be at 30ºC and at pH 7.0 of the growth medium. Among the various carbon and nitrogen sources tested, maltose at 1.5% and Sodium nitrate at 0.3% respectively gave optimum amylase production.

Characterization of novel extracellular protease produced by marine bacterial isolate from the Indian Ocean

Out of the vast pool of enzymes, proteolytic enzymes from microorganisms are the most widely used in different industries such as detergent, food, peptide production etc. Several marine microorganisms are known to produce proteases with commercially desirable characteristics. We have isolated nine different cultures from marine samples of the Indian Ocean. All of them were i) motile ii) rod shaped iii) non spore forming iv) catalase and amylase positive v) able to grow in presence of 10 percent NaCl. They produced acid from glucose, fructose and maltose and grew optimally at 30 0C temperature and pH 7.0-8.0. None of them could grow above 45 0C and below 15 0C. Only one of them (MBRI 7) exhibited extracellular protease activity on skim milk agar plates. Based on 16S rDNA sequencing, it belonged to the genus Marinobacter (98 percent sequence similarity, 1201 bp). The cell free extract was used to study effects of temperature and pH on protease activity. The optimum temperature and pH for activity were found to be 40 0C and 7.0 respectively. The crude enzyme was stable at temperature range of 30-80 0C and pH 5.0-9.0. It retained 60 percent activity at 80 0C after 4 h and more than 70 percent activity at 70 0C after 1 h. D value was found to be 342 minutes and 78 minutes for 40 0C and 80 0C respectively. Interestingly the enzyme remained 50 percent active at pH 9.0 after 1 h. Comparison with other proteases from different microbial sources indicated that the neutral protease from the halotolerant marine isolate MBRI 7 is a novel enzyme with high thermostability.

Extraction, purification and some partial characterization of Ó-amylase inhibitors from wheat lapar 28-igapó / Extracción, purificación y algunas características parciales de los inhibidores de Ó-amilasa del trigo 28-igapó

Ó-Amylase inhibitors wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivar lapar 28-Igapó were extrated with water in a 1:10 (w:v) ratio and precipitated with ammonium sulfate between 20-20 por ciento saturation, followed by DEAE and CM-cellulose chromatography. One inhibitor was purified and designated as CMC-IB, and had electrophoretic mobilities of 0.23 and 0.54 in alkaline and acidic conditions, respectively. This inhibitor was 750 times more active on human salivary Ó-amylase (HSSA) than porcine pancreatic Õ-amylase (PPA). The preincubation time required for maximum complexation with HSA was 20 minutes and optimum pH of inhibition was 7.5. The inhibitor CMC-IB was stable at 0ºC and maintained 50 por ciento of inhibotory activity against HSA, when incubated at 98ºC for one hour

Screening for starch-hydrolysing bacteria

Screening of 3000 soil samples collected from cities of four different provinces of Iran for starch-hydrolysing bacteria revealed that the nature is enriched with Streptomyces species capable of producing amylolytic enzymes. Among the bacterial isolates, one of the high starch degrading strains was selected for further microbiological identification and also amylolytic enzyme[s] characterization. The purified isolate, streptomyces species strain RY48,produces almost four times more amylolytic enzyme[s] than Bacillus subtilis [PTCC1254]on agar plates. Based on the action pattern of its amylolytic enzymes on the boiled maize starch, the purified species possesses in the logphase an amylolytic activity which is different from the amylolytic activity of the stationary phase. The secreted amylolytic enzymes which are both endolytic type and show different activity bands on native polyacrylamide gel, act independently on starch molecules