Valorization of agro-wastes by Bacillus altitudinis XYL17 through simultaneous production of xylanase, xylooligosaccharides, and antioxidant compounds

Abstract

Bacterial strains were isolated from undisturbed regions of Sikkim Himalaya for the production of highly active xylanase and xylooligosaccharides (XOS). Seven bacterial isolates showed xylanase production while fermenting beechwood xylan (BX) and the agrowastes corncob (CC), rice straw (RS), and sugarcane bagasse (SB). Bacillus altitudinis XYL17, isolated from soil at an elevation of 4083 m, produced the highest amount of xylanase. Maximum xylanase production was observed during BX fermentation after 24 h with the an observed activity of 6576.96 ± 82.75 U/mg. CC was observed to be the best agrowaste substrate for xylanase production with an observed activity of 4150.25 ± 94.64 U/mg. Xylopentaose was the most prominent XOS, with a highest observed content of 11.206 ± 0.331 mg/mL in RS hydrolysate. Significant increase of total phenolic content was observed for hydrolysates of B. altitudinis XYL17 fermented agro-wastes as compared to the control, while there was no significant difference (p < 0.05) in phenolic content between the control and fermented BX. The biotechnological potential of the XOS-rich hydrolysate was demonstrated by the observed radical scavenging, HOCl reducing, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) inhibitory activity. MPO inhibitory IC50 of 6.88 mg/mL and 9.4 mg/mL was observed for hydrolysates of SB and CC, respectively. We conclude that B. altitudinis XYL17 can be used for the valorization of agricultural wastes for the simultaneous production of highly efficient xylanase along with XOS and other antioxidant compounds.