A total of 106 Penicillium species were tested to examine their ability of degrading cellobiose, pectin and xylan. The activity of β-glucosidase was generally strong in all the Penicillium species tested. P. citrinum, P. charlesii, P. manginii and P. aurantiacum showed the higher ability of producing β-glucosidase than other tested species. Pectinase activity was detected in 24 Penicillium spec...

Twenty five fungal strains were isolated from soil of Similipal Bioreserve Forest and screened for pectinase and cellulase activity. Aspergillus sp. was found to be predominant in the sample. Out of which, Aspergillus niger and A. flavus showed high cellulolytic and pectinolytic activity having potency index of 4.5 for IFcel and 4.1 for IFpect, respectively. Parameters like pH and temperature w...

Cell wall isolation procedures were evaluated to determine their effect on the total pectin content and the degree of methylesterification of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) fruit cell walls. Water homogenates liberate substantial amounts of buffer soluble uronic acid, 5.2 milligrams uronic acid/100 milligrams wall. Solubilization appears to be a consequence of autohydrolysis mediated by po...

The necrotrophic fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum secretes oxalic acid and endo-polygalacturonase (endo-PG) in host plants. Oxalic acid acidifies the plant tissue to values more suitable to endo-PG activity. However, we observed that the infected soybean seedlings possessed a pH of 3.8, which is below that optimal for endo-PG activity (4.5 to 5.0). We investigated, therefore, the effect...

Pectin lyase and polygalacturonase production by newly isolated fungal strains was carried out in solid-state fermentation. Moniliella SB9 and Penicillium sp EGC5 produced polygalcturonase (PG) and pectin lyase (PL) on mixture of orange bagasse, sugar cane bagasse and wheat bran as substrate. PG and PL produced by Moniliella presented optimum activity at pH 4.5 and 10.0 and at 55 and 45°C, resp...