FIBROLYTIC ENZYMES OF ANAEROBIC FUNGI ISOLATED FROM RUMINANT HERBIVORES
Natalija Atanasova-Pančevska, Džoko Kungulovski, Ivan Kungulovski
Microbiology Department, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Gazi Baba bb, P.O. Box 162, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
atanasovan@yahoo.com
The cell wall of legume forages or grain feeds is principally cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin that are resistant to degradation. Although ruminants do not themselves secrete enzymes capable of digesting these substances, bacteria and fungi in the rumen produce enzymes capable of degrading cell wall substances. Anaerobic rumen fungi inhabit the rumen and actively degrade plant cell walls. They produce high levels of cellulases and hemicellulases; these enzymes are regulated by substrate (especially soluble sugars) available to the organisms. The aim of this paper was examination of presence of fibrolytic enzymes of anaerobic fungi isolated from ruminant herbivores. Ten anaerobic fungi isolated from ruminant herbivores were identified and analyzed. The capacity of hydrolysis of cellulases was monitored following the growth of Whatman No1, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and Avicel. Their efficacies were defined by the presence of reducing sugars and production of gas. Enzyme activity was detected extracellularly in culture supernatants after vegetative growth. Based on overall results obtained, it could be concluded that all examined isolates gives glucose as a final product of fermentation of carbohydrates, followed with gas production in all the tested isolates. Also, the enzymes CM-cellulose, FP-ase and avicelase secreted from J3 released the largest quantity of reducing sugars and gas, compared to the other isolates.
Keywords: fermentation; ruminants; anaerobic fungi; gas production; cellulases
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