Production of cellulases by Aureobasidium pullulans LB83: optimization, characterization, and hydrolytic potential for the production of cellulosic sugars

Abstract

Aureobasidium pullulans LB83 was evaluated for cellulase production under submerged fermentation conditions. Different process variables such as carbon sources (corn cob, sugarcane bagasse, and sugarcane straw), synthetic (urea, ammonium sulfate, and peptone), and non-synthetic (soybean meal, rice, and corn meal) nitrogen sources and inoculum size were evaluated by one parameter at-a-time strategy. Aureobasidium pullulans LB83 showed maximum cellulase activity (FPase, 2.27 U/mL; CMCase, 7.42 U/mL) on sugarcane bagasse. Among the nitrogen sources, soybean meal as a non-synthetic nitrogen sources showed a maximum cellulase activity (FPase 2.45 U/mL; CMCase, 6.86 U/mL) after 60 hr. The inoculum size of 1.6 × 106 CFU/mL had the maximum FPase and CMCase activities of 3.14 and 8.74 U/mL, respectively. For the enzymatic hydrolysis, both the commercial cellulase (10 FPU/g of Cellic CTec 2 (#A) and 10 FPU/g of crude enzyme extract (CEE) (#B), and varying ratio of CTec 2 and CEE in combination #C (5 FPU/g of CTec 2 + 5 FPU/g CEE), combination #D (2.5 FPU/g of CTec 2 + 7.5 FPU/g CEE), and combination #E (7.5 FPU/g of CTec 2 + 2.5 FPU/g CEE) were assessed for enzymatic hydrolysis of delignified sugarcane bagasse. Enzyme combination #C showed maximum hydrolysis yield of 92.40%. The study shows the hydrolytic potential of cellulolytic enzymes from A. pullulans LB83 for lignocellulosic sugars production from delignified sugarcane bagasse.