Aspergillus Xylanases

Abstract

There has been tremendous growth and development in the use of xylanase in the biotechnology industry. The market trends reveal that xylanase takes major position of share up to 20% of the world enzymes market along with cellulases and pectinases. In fact, xylanase has become one of the major industrial enzymes in the pulp and paper industry as bio-bleaching agent. Besides that, xylanase is also used in the production of detergents and beverages. In the feed industry, enzyme preparation containing xylanases is used to improve the digestibility of animal feed. Furthermore, xylanase is added to swine and poultry cereal-based diets to improve absorption of nutrients. Additionally, xylanase is used in the modifications of flour in bakery products as well as in the saccharification of agricultural, municipal and industrial waste materials. Most commercial enzymes including xylanase are produced in submerged and solid state fermentation. Submerged fermentation is performed by culturing microorganisms in a liquid medium containing required nutrients with specific composition, volume and concentration. In contrast, solid state fermentation is defined as growth of microorganisms on a layer of moist solid substrate without presence of any free flowing water yet with enough moisture for growth and metabolism of microorganisms. Aspergillus spp, indeed, A. brasiliensis is a filamentous ascomycete fungus that has been widely used in the biotechnology field for xylanase production. The production of xylanase from fungal cultures is relatively high compared to the ones from bacteria and yeasts. As a result, the most desirable xylanases are produced by filamentous fungi known as fungal xylanases particularly Aspergillus xylanases where they have been involved in many industries for decades.