Production of Bacterial - Xylanolytic Enzyme using Agricultural Waste by Solid State Fermentation

Xylanases (E.C.3.2.1.8) are key enzymes, which play an important role in the breakdown of xylan. Wheat bran and corn cob are a rich source of xylan (28%) and xylose (23%). Therefore these are attractive substrates for production of xylanase & ßxylosidase enzyme. Xylan, a major component of hemicelluloses, is a heterogeneous polysaccharides consisting of ß-1, 4 linked to D-xylosyl residues on the backbone, but also containing arabinose, glucuronic acid, and arabino glucuronic acid linked to D-xylose backbone (Wong et al., 1988). Enzymatic hydrolysis of xylan is catalyzed by different xylanolytic enzymes such as endo-1,4-ß-xylanase, ß-xylosidase, ά-glucuronidase, ά-arabinofuranosidase and esterase. Among these endo-1,4-β-xylanase (E.C. 3.2.1.8) and ß-xylosidase are the most important enzymes where the first attacks the main internal chain linkages and the second releases xylosyl residues by endwise attack of xylo-oligosaccharides (Bakir et al., 2001). Many of the xylanase producing strains reported in the literature describes the endoxylanase activity only. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 4 Number 4 (2015) pp. 9-16 http://www.ijcmas.com