Xylanase production by Burkholderia sp. DMAX strain under solid state fermentation using distillery spent wash

Xylanase production by a newly isolated strain of Burkholderia sp. was studied under solid state fermentation using anaerobically treated distillery spent wash. Response surface methodology (RSM) involving Box-Behnken design was employed for optimizing xylanase production. The interactions between distillery effluent concentration, initial pH, moisture ratio and inoculum size were investigated and modeled. Under optimized conditions, xylanase production was found to be in the range of 5200-5600 U/g. The partially purified enzyme recovered after ammonium sulphate fractionation showed maximum activity at 50 degrees C and pH 8.6. Kinetic parameters like Km and Vmax for xylan were found to be 12.75 mg/ml and 165 micromol/mg/min. In the presence of metal ions such as Ca2+, Co2+, Mn2+, Ba2+, Mg2+ and protein disulphide reducing agents such as beta-mercaptoethanol and dithiotheritol (DTT) the activity of enzyme increased, where as strong inhibition of enzyme activity was observed in the presence of Cu2+, Ag+, Fe2+ and SDS. The crude enzyme hydrolysed lignocellulosic substrate, wheat bran as well as industrial pulp.