title: Modification of the carbohydrate composition of sulfite pulp by purified and characterized beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase of Aureobasidium pullulans.
abstract: Both beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase were purified to homogeneity from a xylose-grown culture of Aureobasidium pullulans. Cellular distribution studies of enzyme activities revealed that beta-xylanase was an extracellular enzyme, during both the exponential and stationary phases, whereas beta-xylosidase was mostly periplasmic associated. The beta-xylanase exhibited very high specificity for xylan extracted from Eucalyptus grandis dissolving pulp, whereas the beta-xylosidase was only active on p-nitrophenyl xyloside and xylobiose. Comparison of kcat/Km ratios showed that the beta-xylanase hydrolyzed xylan from dissolving pulp 1.3, 2.1, and 2. 3 times more efficiently than Eucalyptus hemicellulose B, Eucalyptus hemicellulose A, and larchwood xylan, respectively. The beta-xylosidase exhibited a transxylosylation reaction during the hydrolysis of xylobiose. When applied on acid sulfite pulp, both enzymes released xylose and hydrolyzed xylan to a different extent. Although beta-xylosidase (0.4 U/g pulp) liberated more xylose from pulp than beta-xylanase (4.7 U/g pulp), it was responsible for only 3% of xylan solubilization. Treatment of pulp with beta-xylanase liberated 51.7 microgram of xylose/g and hydrolyzed 10% of xylan. The two enzymes acted additively on pulp and removed 12% of pulp xylan. A synergistic effect in terms of release of xylose from pulp was observed when the enzyme mixture of beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase was supplemented with beta-mannanase. However, this did not result in further enzymatic degradation of pulp xylan. Both beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase altered the carbohydrate composition of sulfite pulp by increasing the relative cellulose content at the expense of reduced hemicellulose content of pulp.
authors: Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, University of the Orange Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa. christol@micro.nw.uovs.ac.za
authors: L P
authors: LP
authors: Christov
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Myburgh
authors: F H
authors: FH
authors: O'Neill
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Van Tonder
authors: B A
authors: BA
authors: Prior
mesh_terms: D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D043364:Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007221:Industry; D007700:Kinetics; D003904:Mitosporic Fungi / Q000201:enzymology*; D010209:Paper; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013447:Sulfites; D014995:Xylosidases / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D013447:Sulfites; D014995:Xylosidases; C026579:exo-1,4-beta-D-xylosidase; D043364:Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases