SCREENING OF FILAMENTOUS FUNGI FROM THE ATLANTIC FOREST BIOME PRODUCING ENZYMES OF THE PECTINOLYTIC COMPLEX

Fungi are the major producers of enzymes such as cellulases, pectinases and xylanases, so these microorganisms were selected in the present work to analyze the ideal conditions to improve the production of the activity of the pectinase enzyme. A total of 36 fungi previously collected from the Atlantic Forest of Parana were cultivated in a test tube containing 10 to 15 mL of BDA medium for 7 days at 40 °C. Among all analyzed, the filamentous fungus Aspergillus terreus strain PA3A5T was the best producer of pectinases, whose greatest enzymatic activity occurred at a temperature of 60 °C and at pH 5. The ideal culture medium for inducing production Enzyme was the defined medium Vogel supplemented with passion fruit peel at 1% (w/v) as a carbon source and incubated for 96 hours. To our knowledge, this is the first time that these data are reported in the literature.