Feruloyl esterase from the edible mushroom Panus giganteus: a potential dietary supplement

A novel 61 kDa feruloyl esterase (FAE) was purified to homogeneity from freshly collected fruiting bodies of Panus giganteus. The isolation procedure involved chromatography on the ion exchangers DEAE-cellulose and Q-Sepharose, followed by size exclusion chromatography on Superdex 75, which produced a purified enzyme with a high specific activity (170.0 U/mg) which was 130-fold higher than that of crude extract. The purified FAE exhibited activity toward synthetic methyl esters and short-chain fatty acid nitrophenyl esters. The Km and Vmax for this enzyme on methyl ferulate were 0.36 mM and 18.97 U/mg proteins, respectively. FAE activity was attained at a maximum at pH 4 and 40 °C, respectively. The FAE activity was inhibited by metal ions to various degrees. The purified FAE could bring about the release of ferulic acid from wheat bran and corn bran under the action of the single purified FAE, and the amount released from wheat bran rose to 51.9% (of the total amount) by the synergistic action of xylanase.