Acid proteinases production by humicola lutea cells immobilized in polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate gel

Abstract

Abstract The spores of Humicola lutea entrapped in polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate gel were precultivated in production medium for mycelial formation. The immobilized mycelium was reused in batch mode for acid proteinases production. The influence of precultivation time, initial inoculum gel volume, and gel particle size on the enzyme activity and proteinases production half‐life were studied. After 70 h precultivation of the entrapped spores (10 ml initial inoculum volume, 12–27 mm 3 gel particle size) maximum proteinases activity of 100–140% (compared with free cells) was registered in 15 reaction cycles. Under the same condition the half‐life time was 18 cycles, while for the free cells it was 5 cycles. The main advantage of the polyhydroxyethylmethacylate immobilized H. lutea was the long acid proteinases production half‐life at a low concentration of outgrowing cells in the medium.