Microscale solid-state cultivation for evaluating enzyme productivity in filamentous fungi

Filamentous fungi, such as Aspergillus oryzae, A. luchuensis, and Trichoderma reesei, produce many types of enzymes, including glycoside hydrolases and proteases, which are important for brewing and biotechnological applications. Solid-state cultures of filamentous fungi have been reported to exhibit high enzymatic activities; therefore, evaluating enzyme productivity in filamentous fungi through solid-state cultivation is important. In this study, we developed a simple and efficient method for the solid-state cultivation of filamentous fungi at the microscale to evaluate enzyme productivity. In this method, filamentous fungi were cultured in a spin filter column containing biomass, whereafter enzymes were extracted from the cultures via centrifugation. This method allows for the easier evaluation of enzyme productivity in filamentous fungi using solid-state cultivation.