PJB-2014-258
COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON PRODUCTION OF CELLULASES FROM THREE STRAINS OF ASPERGILLUS NIGER
MUHAMMAD SOHAIL, AQEEL AHMAD AND SHAKEEL AHMED KHAN*
Abstract
Three strains of Aspergillus niger were retrieved from culture collection of the Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan and were studied for their ability to produce cellulases. Cultivation at different temperatures and in presence of various carbon sources revealed that all the three strains produced more amounts of endoglucanase, β-glucosidase and filter-paperase activities at 35oC; carboxymethyl cellulose promotes the production of filter paperase and endoglucanase activities whereas salicin induced β-glucosidase activity. Experiments on growth and enzyme production kinetics showed that generation time and hence volumetric rate of biomass production is influenced by the carbon source used in the medium; simple carbon source, such as glucose favored the growth of all the strains. Cellulases from all the strains showed optimum activity at temperature >50oC and under acidic range of pH, while melting temperature was 64-65oC. These findings affirm that cellulases from A. niger are potential candidates as alternative to Trichoderma cellulases.
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