Cellulase and Xylanase Production by Yeasts of the Genus Trichosporon

Abstract

Summary The optimum conditions for cellulase production in culture filtrates by Trichosporon cutaneum and T. pullulans were determined. With ball-milled filter paper as a test substrate maximum activity was detected 4 to 7 days after transfer from glucose to cellulose (ball-milled filter paper) as growth substrate. Comparison of the yeast filtrates with those from the moulds Trichoderma viride and Myrothecium verrucaria showed that the total activity of one strain of T. pullulans was comparable to that of the moulds with ball-milled filter paper as assay substrate. Activities were always lower when α-cellulose or dewaxed cotton were used as assay substrates. The main products of cellulose degradation were cellobiose and glucose, although the ratio of these products clearly differentiated between culture filtrates of the species examined. Xylanase activity was present in all the culture filtrates examined. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of active filtrates produced strain-specific patterns of three to five stained bands with similar mobilities but an inactive filtrate lacked one band common to all the other filtrates.