Abstract

OPTIMIZATION OF CELLULASE PRODUCED BY FUNGUS ISOLATED FROM WATER

Harjot Pal Kaur* and Deepti Joshi

ABSTRACT

Cellulases are a group of hydrolytic enzymes capable of degrading cellulose to the smaller glucose units and have a wide range of applications in textile industry, drug industry, detergent industry, food-feed industry, bioethanol production and pulp-paper industry. This study was designed to assess the cellulase production of fungus isolated from water. 5 fungal isolates obtained from water samples were identified by morphological and microscopic features. These 5 isolates were screened for cellulase production and cellulase production of two isolates that gave highest zone of hydrolysis (P. chrysogenum - zone 18mm and T. reesei – zone 12mm) was estimated by CMCase and FPase assay then compared with cellulase activity of respective standard strains. Isolate 2 belonging to P. chrysogenum showed more enzyme activity (0.552 U/ml) than the isolate 1 belonging to T. reesei (0.363 U/ml) and both the isolates showed greater enzyme activity than their respective standard strains. Optimization of process parameters (temperature, pH, incubation time, carbon and nitrogen source) was carried out for the isolates and respective standard strains to maximize enzyme yield. On optimization T. reesei showed maximum enzyme activity at temperature of 30°C, pH 4, 120 hours of incubation with sucrose as carbon source and yeast extract as nitrogen source whereas P. chrysogenum showed maximum cellulase production at temperature of 30°C, pH 5, incubation of 144 hours, CMC as carbon source and ammonium nitrate as nitrogen source. Results indicate that fungi belonging to T. reesei and P. chrysogenum effectively produced cellulase and its yield was increased by optimizing process parameters.

Keywords: Cellulase, Morphological, Microscopic, Sucrose, Yeast Extract