Purification and Partial Characterization of Cellulase Produced by Aspergillus niger Cultured on Vitellaria paradoxa shells

Abstract

This research investigated the purification and partial characterization of cellulase produced by Aspergillus niger cultured on Vitellaria paradoxa shells. Cellulase (endoglucanase) from A. niger was produced under optimum fermentation conditions at 35 °C, pH 4.7, V. paradoxa, 4 g/L, inoculum size of 10 mm and the fermentation media incubated for 120 hours. The crude endoglucanase obtained were partially purified by subjecting to ammonium sulphate precipitation, dialysis and gel filtration chromatography for further purification. The effect of temperature and pH on the activity of purified endoglucanase was determined. Cellulase was purified to 734.33 folds by Sephadex G-100 column chromatography with a specific activity and yield of 4.406 U/mg and 63.03% respectively. Fractions 4 and 7 contained the highest endoglucanase activity out of 18 fractions collected and the two fractions were pooled for further analysis. The activity of purified endoglucanase was optimum at a temperature of 40 °C and pH 5. Therefore, the purified endoglucanase produced may be explored in detergent industry. Keywords: Aspergillus niger, endoglucanase, Vitellaria paradoxa, purification, partial characterization