Monday, April 29, 2013
Exhibit Hall
Plant cell walls (PCW) consist of carbohydrates (holocellulose), lignin and proteins. A filamentous fungus detains an arsenal of oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes that can deconstruct the framework of PCW. The microbial enzymes are relevance to various sectors, e.g., development of biofuels. This study aimed to cultivate filamentous fungi isolated from rotting cactaceae in the semiarid Brazilian, under solid-state fermentation for detecting activities of hydrolytic enzymes in the crude extract, grown in plant biomass as a nutrient source. Four fungi-isolate have been grown (MAND1, MAND2, MAND3, VCM) in six biomass plants [1_Opuntia ficus-indica (OF); 2_Nopalea cochenillifera (NC); 3_Cereus jamacaru (CJ); 4_Luffa cylindrica (LC); 5_Smilax sp. (RS); 6_Spondia tuberosa (ST)]. Were determined holocelulases activities (xylanase, pectinase, mannanase, endoglucanase, exoglucanase, FPase) and amylases (amyloglucosidase). The isolated VCM showed significant activities for most enzymes tested, except exoglucanase, when grown on substrates: OF, NC, CJ and LC. The VCM presented mostly activities for pectinases, xylanases and mannanases, grown for the first four substrates; however the substrates RS and ST were not satisfactory, except for amyloglucosidase in ST. The isolated MAND2 only showed significant activity in pectinases of the OF, NC, LC and CJ substrates, as well as amyloglucosidase in LC. The isolated MAND1 and MAND3 showed significance only in LC for amyloglucosidase activity. The perspective is the characterization and partial purification of the enzymes that showed significant results in this work, and which can be applied in the process of enzymatic hydrolysis of plant cell wall, with the purpose of producing biofuels.