Monday, November 4, 2013
Capri Ballroom (Marriott Marco Island)
Plant starch is one of the main sources for fermentable sugars for the production of ethanol and fermented beverages. Both amylase and glucoamylase are enzymes needed for the quantitative conversion of starch to glucose. A large collection of thermotolerant fungal strains from tropical soils and hot compost from sugarcane bagasse composting, has been generated by the use of selective media for specific genera of the basidiomycete, ascomycete, zygomycete groups. The screening provided more than 35 fungal strains which showed a simultaneous ability to grow above 45 ºC, and produce extracellular amylases in a plate screening, using a soluble starch based medium formulation.
Six strains were evaluated in flask fermentation for the production of amylases, glucoamylases and maltases, using raw starch, gelatinized starch, soluble starch, dextrins and maltose as substrates. Several patterns of amylolytic activity were found under analysis of enzyme reaction products by TLC, spectrophotometrical methods and HPLC.
Primary morphological characterization of selected strains include several strains from Aspergillus, Penicillium and Trichoderma.
Potential biotechnological applications are presented and discussed, in relation to the potential use of the enzymatic systems detected in breadmaking, brewing and bioethanol production