Abstract
A thermophilic Thermobifida fusca strain UPMC 901, harboring highly thermostable cellulolytic activity, was successfully isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunch compost. Its endoglucanase had the highest activity at 24 hours of incubation in carboxymethyl-cellulose (CMC) and filter paper. A maximum endoglucanase activity of 0.9 U/mL was achieved at pH 5 and 60 °C using CMC as a carbon source. The endoglucanase properties were further characterized using crude enzyme preparations from the culture supernatant. Thermal stability indicated that the endoglucanase activity was highly stable at 70 °C for 24 hours. Furthermore, the activity was found to be completely maintained without any loss at 50 °C and 60 °C for 144 hours, making it the most stable than other endoglucanases reported in the literature. The high stability of the endoglucanase at an elevated temperature for a prolonged period of time makes it a suitable candidate for the biorefinery application.
Highlights
A thermophilic Thermobifida fusca strain UPMC 901, harboring highly thermostable cellulolytic activity, was successfully isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunch compost
The degradation of lignocellulosic material started during the thermophilic phase after which the readily decomposable organic materials have been consumed by the microbes
T. fusca is a filamentous soil thermophilic bacterium that grows at 50–55 °C in tryptic soy medium on cellulose as a carbon source
Summary
A thermophilic Thermobifida fusca strain UPMC 901, harboring highly thermostable cellulolytic activity, was successfully isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunch compost. Cellulases with high thermal stability and optimum activity at elevated temperature have received great interest in various industrial applications such as food, textile, pulp, paper industry and agro-industrial biomass conversion This is due to its potential advantages such as shorter hydrolysis period by the high specific activity of the enzyme, better solubility of the substrate/products, lower risk of contamination in the degradation process and lower cost of energy for the cooling process after the pre-treatment[2,3]. Several cellulolytic bacteria had been successfully isolated from different stages of the oil palm empty fruit bunch composting process, of which the thermophilic stage had the highest cellulolytic bacterial population as compared to other stages[19] These findings indicated that the presence of various cellulolytic bacteria, especially during the thermophilic stage, serves as one of the best sources for discovering the thermostable cellulose degrading enzymes. This study aimed to evaluate the production as well as the thermostable properties of the crude endoglucanase produced by the isolated Thermobifida fusca UPMC 901
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