Development of a bioprocess based on fungal consortia for the production of enzymatic cocktails.

MORILLA, ESTEBAN AMADOR; MUTTI STEGMANN, PAULA ; TUBIO, GISELA

Congreso; rcer Encuentro & Primer Workshop de la Red Argentina de Tecnología Enzimática (Red TEz); 2021

The most important group of microbial hydrolytic enzymes includes xylanases, proteases, amylases, cellulases, and lipases. Together, these enzymes form a cocktail capable of acting synergistically, exhibiting functional properties that make it optimal for various applications, including the production of enzymatic detergents, in food processing or biofuel production.The levels of enzyme production vary significantly between the different microbial species, with filamentous fungi (FF) the main producers. FFs can grow on lignocellulosic residues from agribusiness that constitute an ideal substrate to produce enzymes.The production of enzyme cocktails through a FF consortium designed in a single fermentation step presents great industrial and economic potential by reducing costs and production times.The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of using a fungal consortium by Aspergillus niger and oryzae, and Trichoderma harzanium for the production of an enzyme cocktail enriched in xylanolytic (XE), cellulolytic (CE), amylolytic (AE), proteolytic (PE) and lipidic (LE) enzymes using agro-industrial waste like wheat bran, soybean husk and sunflower husk as substrates. Then, the strains were evaluated to coexist in the same culture by interaction studies and the production of antagonistic metabolites. Different fungal consortium models were tested in selected agro-industrial waste.Solid-state (SSF) and submerged (SmF) fermentation were assayed for 5 days at 30°C in all agro-industrial wastes. The activity of XE, CE and AE were measured by the dinitrosalicylic acid colorimetric method, PE activity was measured by the azocasein method and LE by the colorimetric method based on the hydrolysis of pNPB.The combination of wheat bran and soybean husk proved to be the most favorable source of carbon and nitrogen for maximum enzyme production after 4 days of SSF at 30°C for A. niger and oryzae. These species demonstrated to be able to coexist in a fungal consortium because no mycelium could occupy the territory occupied by the other microorganism. A. niger and A. oryzae formed a fungal consortium that produced IU/gds of substrate of XE (65), CE (30), AE (135), PE (13,000) and LE (1.95).A bioprocess within the framework of sustainability was designed for the production of hydrolytic enzyme cocktails using a fungal consortium of A. niger and A. oryzaein a single fermentation step aimed at improving economic industrial development by reducing costs and production times and environmental protection with the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass cost-effectively.