Oral Presentation 6-07

 

Investigation of Cellulase and Hemicellulase Production in

Penicillium brasilianum using Capillary Electrophoresis

 

Henning Jørgensen, Lisbeth Olsson

 

Center for Process Biotechnology

BioCentrum-DTU

Building 223

Technical University of Denmark

DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby

 

Telephone:  (45) 45252678; Fax:  (45) 45884148;

E-mail:  henning.Jorgensen@biocentrum.dtu.dk

  

There is a growing demand for specific, efficient and cheap cellulases and hemicellulases for use in formulation of washing powders, in textile production, in the pulp and paper industries and for degradation of lignocellulosic material in the production of bio-ethanol.  Many filamentous fungi are good enzyme producers, such as Trichoderma, Aspergillus and Penicillium, but many details about the regulation of enzyme production remain unknown.  It is therefore of interest to gain more information about production of the many different cellulases and hemicellulases and their regulation during growth on different carbon sources.

 

The enzymatic assays used for measuring production of the enzymes are time consuming, not always specific, and do not give any information about the presence of iso-enzymes.  Capillary electrophoresis is an analytical technique capable of separating and measuring the proteins present in the cultivation broth.  It is fast and offers automatic analysis of a large number of samples. Unlike enzymatic assays, capillary electrophoresis makes it possible to measure several different enzymes with similar activity, which results in more detailed information about changes in the enzyme production pattern during growth on complex substrates.

 

Capillary electrophoresis analysis, in association with traditional enzymatic assays, has been used to study the production of cellulases and hemicellulases in the filamentous fungi Penicillium brasilianum (IBT 20888) during growth on different carbon sources (glucose, xylose, cellulose and xylan) – aiming at identifying the regulation of the enzymes.

 

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