Production, Purification and Characterization of Hemicellulose from Penicillium janthinellum 3CHP

Penicillium janthinellum 3CHP, a mesophilic fungal strain, isolated from the pine forest of Simla hill was found to produce an array of hemicelluloses when grown in urea medium with sorghum straw as the carbon source. For purification these enzymes, were subjected to ion exchange chromatography. The active fractions pertaining to á-arabinofuranosidase obtained from it were pooled and concentrated using PM-10 (10 KDa cut off) fitted into an Amicon cell and further purified by gel filtration chromatography. Active fractions which exhibited high á-arabinofuranosidase activity in gel filtration chromatography were again pooled, concentrated and analyzed by SDS PAGE and zymogram development using L-umbelliferyl arabinofuranoside as substrate. Two isoforms of á-arabinofuranosidase were observed with molecular weight of approximately 60 and 80 KDa respectively. á-arabinofuranosidase, was further characterized with respect to various parameters such as temperature, pH, effect of various metal ions and chemicals, substrate specificity, and thermo-stability DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njst.v14i2.10425 ？ Nepal Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 14, No. 2 (2013) 123-130