Poster Presentation 1B-25
Growth of and Enzyme Production by Trichoderma reesei on
Corn Fiber Fractions
Xin-Liang Li,* Bruce S. Dien
and Michael A. Cotta
Fermentation Biotechnology Research
Unit
USDA/ARS
Phone: (309)681-6327
Fax: (309)681-6427
E-mail: lix@ncaur.usda.gov
Corn fiber is the fibrous by-product
of wet-mill corn processing that has promise as a lignocellulosic
biomass feedstock for fuels and other bio-products. It consists typically of about 20% starch, 14%
cellulose, and 30% hemicellulose in the form of arabinoxylan. We
have fractionated crude corn fiber (CCF) into destarched
corn fiber (DSCF), corn fiber cellulose (CFC), and corn fiber arabinoxylan (CFAX). Shake-flask cultivation has demonstrated that Trichoderma reesei QM9414
and Rut C-30 are able to grow on the CCF, DSCF, CFC, or CFAX and secrete a
number of hydrolytic enzymes. Enzyme assays
and SDS-PAGE analyses showed that enzyme levels varied significantly between
the two strains of T. reesei
and among the four substrates. Data on
the saccharification of corn fiber components by various
enzyme preparations will also be presented.