Production and regeneration of Trichosporon cutaneum protoplasts

A Combined Study on Optimization, In Silico Modeling, and Genetic Modification of Large Scale Microbial Cellulase Production

Cellulase is a biocatalyst that hydrolyzes cellulosic biomass and is considered a major group of industrial enzymes for its applications. Extensive work has been done on microbial cellulase but fungi are considered a novel strain for their maximum cellulase production. Production cost and novel microbial strains are major challenges for its improvement where cheap agro wastes can be essential sources of cellulose as substrates. The researcher searches for more cellulolytic microbes from natural sources but the production level of isolated strains is comparatively low. So genetic modification or mutation can be employed for large-scale cellulase production before optimization. After genetic modification than in silico molecular modeling can be evaluated for substrate molecule's binding affinity. In this review, we focus not only on the conventional methods of cellulase production but also on modern biotechnological approaches applied to cellulase production by a sequential study on common cellulase-producing microbes, modified microbes, culture media, carbon sources, substrate pretreatment process, and the importance of optimum pH and temperature on fermentation. In this review, we also compare different cellulase activity determination methods. As a result, this review provides insights into the interrelationship between the characteristics of optimizing different culture conditions, genetic modification, and in silico enzyme modeling for the production of cellulase enzymes, which may aid in the advancement of large-scale integrated enzyme manufacturing of substrate-specific enzymes.

Penicillium ochrochloron MTCC 517 chitinase: An effective tool in commercial enzyme cocktail for production and regeneration of protoplasts from various fungi

Penicillium ochrochloron MTCC 517 is a potent producer of chitinolytic enzymes. Novozyme 234, traditional enzyme cocktail for protoplast generation is not available in the market. So, new enzyme cocktail is prepared for protoplast formation from various filamentous fungi which consists of 5 mg ml(-1) lysing enzymes from Trichoderma harzianum, 0.06 mg ml(-1) β-glucuronidase from Helix pomatia and 1 mg ml(-1) P. ochrochloron chitinase. The greatest number of protoplasts could be produced from most of the fungi in 0.8 M sorbitol and by incubation for about 2 h at 37 °C, but the number was decreased by incubation for more than 3 h. About twice as many protoplasts were produced from different species of fungi by involvement of P. ochrochloron chitinase than with combined commercial enzymes.