Abstract
Endophytic fungi in plant tissues produce a wide range of secondary metabolites and enzymes, which exhibit a variety of biological activities. In the present study, litter endophytic fungi were isolated from a fire-prone forest and screened for thermostable cellulases. Among nine endophytic fungi tested, two isolates, Bartalinia pondoensis and Phoma sp., showed the maximum cellulase activity. Bartalinia pondoensis was further selected for its cellulase production and characterization. Among the carbon and nitrogen sources tested, maximum cellulase production was observed with maltose and yeast extract, and the eucalyptus leaves and rice bran served as the best natural substrates. The cellulase activity increased with increasing temperature, with maximum activity recorded at 100 °C. The maximum CMCase activity was observed between pH 6.0 and 7.0 and retained 80% of its activity in the pH range of 8–10. Partially purified cellulase of B. pondoensis retained 50% of its activity after 2 h of incubation at 60 °C, 80 °C and 100 °C. These results suggest that litter endophytic fungus B. pondoensis is a potential source for the production of thermostable and alkali-tolerant cellulase.
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The authors declare that all data supporting the findings of this study are available within this article and the ITS sequence information at the NCBI database.
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The authors are thankful to Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala and Swami Shukadevananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Chennai, for the facilities provided.
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T. S. S. and M. S. R. conceived the study and designed experiments; R. Y., M. V. R. and T. R. performed experiments; M. V. R. and T. R. analyzed data, prepared figures and wrote the draft. T. S. S. and M. S. R. edited the manuscript, interpreted the results and edited the final version of the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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Yadav, R., Vasundhara, M., Rajamani, T. et al. Isolation and characterization of thermostable and alkali-tolerant cellulase from litter endophytic fungus Bartalinia pondoensis. Folia Microbiol 67, 955–964 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-022-00991-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-022-00991-4