Penicillium notatum Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Efficient pectinase producing fungi is the need of an hour for number of industries such as feed, textile, paper, pulp and food. The objective of the current study was to increase the production of pectinase from Penicillium notatum MH-61... more
Efficient pectinase producing fungi is the need of an hour for number of industries such as feed, textile, paper, pulp and food. The objective of the current study was to increase the production of pectinase from Penicillium notatum MH-61 through random mutagenesis using physical and chemical methods followed by growth parameters’ optimization. Wild strain of Penicillium notatum MH-61 was subjected to UV irradiation (60 min), nitrous acid (0.9 M) and ethidium bromide (0.5 mg/mL) treatments. Mutants obtained were screened for pectinase production using mineral salt agar medium by observing zones of clearance. Later, the mutant strains showing better zones of clearance were analyzed for estimation of pectinase using solid-state fermentation employing sugarcane bagasse as substrate. UV treated mutant strain MH-UV9 exhibited highest pectinase activity i.e. 5.1 ± 0.10 U/mL/min as compared to that of wild type i.e. 2.15 ± 0.02 U/mL/min. The cultural conditions such as incubation time, pH and temperature for pectinase production by wild (MH-61) and mutant (MH-UV9) strains under solid state fermentation were also optimized. The enhanced activity of pectinase using UV mutant MH-UV9 i.e. 5.98 ± 0.05 U/mL/min was obtained using fermentation medium of pH 5.0 at 30°C after an incubation period of 120 h. The whole process resulted in 2.37 fold increase in pectinase production as compared to that of wild strain.