Identification and characterization of diverse xylanases from thermophilic and thermotolerant fungi

Abstract

Thirteen fungal isolates included in this study expressed multiple xylanase isoforms as observed by xylan zymograms of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and isoelectrofocussing (IEF) fractionated proteins. Eighty-three xylanases produced by these thermophilic and thermotolerant strains were detected using the IEF profiling technique. Xylanases identified on the basis of their isoelectric points (pI) were functionally diverse and exhibited differential catalytic activities against various xylan types (birch wood xylan, larch wood xylan, oat spelt xylan, rye arabino xylan and wheat arabino xylan) as well as debranched arabinan. Thermophilic isolates, Chaetomium thermophilum, Humicola insolens, Melanocarpus sp., Malbranchea sp. and Thermoascus aurantiacus, were found to produce alkaline active xylanases that showed a bleach boosting effect on Decker pulp resulting in increased brightness (1.60-2.04 ISO units).

Keywords

• Thermophilic and Thermotolerant fungi
• Multiple xylanases
• PAGE and IEF fractionated proteins
• Specificities and catalytic activities
• Alkaline active xylanases.