Enhancement of acid amylase production by an isolated Aspergillus awamori

• Published in: Journal of applied microbiology Vol. 102; no. 1; pp. 204 - 211
• Main Authors: Prakasham, R.S, Subba Rao, Ch, Sreenivas Rao, R, Sarma, P.N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Blackwell Science
• Subjects: Acid amylase; Amylases - biosynthesis; Aspergillus - isolation & purification; Aspergillus - metabolism; Aspergillus awamori; Biological and medical sciences; Buffers; Caseins - metabolism; Culture Media; Drug Interactions; enzyme production; Fermentation - physiology; fractional factorial design; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Magnesium Sulfate - metabolism; medium optimization; Microbiology; Phosphates - metabolism; Potassium Compounds - metabolism; Soil Microbiology; Starch - metabolism; Temperature; Zea mays - metabolism; medium optimization; Amylase; Enzyme; Applied microbiology; Optimization; fractional factorial design; Fungi; enzyme production; Acid amylase; Production; Fungi Imperfecti; Factorial design; Thallophyta; Aspergillus awamori
• ISSN: 1364-5072; 1365-2672
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2006.03058.x

Evaluation of the influence of fermentation components on extracellular acid amylase production by an isolated fungal strain Aspergillus awamori. Eight fungal metabolic influential factors, viz. soluble starch, corn steep liquor (CSL), casein, potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH₂PO₄) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄·7H₂O), pH, temperature and inoculum level were selected to optimize amylase production by A. awamori using fractional factorial design of Taguchi methodology. Significant improvement in acid amylase enzyme production (48%) was achieved. The optimized medium composition consisted of soluble starch - 3%; CSL - 0·5%; KH₂PO₄- 0·125%; MgSO₄·7H₂O - 0·125%; casein - 1·5% at pH 4·0 and temperature at 31°C. Optimization of the components of the fermentation medium was carried out using fractional factorial design of Taguchi's L-18 orthogonal array. Based on the influence of interaction components of fermentation, these could be classified as the least significant and the most significant at individual and interaction levels. Least significant factors of individual level have higher interaction severity index and vice versa at enzyme production in this fungal strain. The pH of the medium and substrate (soluble starch) showed maximum production impact (60%) at optimized environment. Temperature and CSL were the least influential factors for acid amylase production. Acid amylase production by isolated A. awamori is influenced by the interaction of fermentation factors with fungal metabolism at individual and interaction levels. The pH of the fermentation medium and substrate concentration regulates maximum enzyme production process in this fungal strain.