Isolation and identification a tannin-tolerant fungus producing protopectinase

Abstract

A strain SHPP01, which produces a protopectinase and has the ability of tannin tolerance, was screened from Shanghai University campus with protopectin as the solo carbon source. It was identified as Aspergillus terreus, and designated as A. terreus SHPP01 based on its morphology and internal transcriptional spacer sequence. Tannin tolerance assay was carried out later to explore the effect on the characters of SHPP01; the result showed the dry weight of A. terreus SHPP01 increased about 1.39 times, when tannin concentration increased from 2 to 10 g/L. With tannin concentration increasing protopectinase production decreased firstly, and increased later, the result showed that tannin concentration below 10 g/L has not significantly affected protopectinase production, and A. terreus SHPP01 has the good ability of tannin tolerance than others in previous literatures. This study provides the foundation to utilize A. terreus SHPP01 to extract pectin from persimmon peel in microbial fermentation. Key words Molecular identification, tannin tolerance, Aspergillus terreus, protopectinase.