Published on April 2022 | MICROBIOLOGY

Production and Optimization of α-amylase from Aspergillus ochraceusisolated from Marakkanam Saltpans, Tamil Nadu, India

Alpha-amylases are an important class of industrial enzymes, finding wide scale applications in various industries. The use of halophilic α-amylase in bioprocesses presents the advantage to obtain optimal activities at high salt concentrations. The present study was concerned with the production and optimization of alpha amylase from halophilic fungi isolated from Marakkanam Saltpan, Tamil Nadu, India. Twenty-one fungal strains were isolated from sediment sample and these isolates were screened for the production of alpha amylase enzymes. Based on the clear zone, the maximum zone producing strain of Aspergillus ochraceus was selected for optimization study. The maximum microbial amylase production could be achieved using an optimized medium of the following incubated at shaking condition (agitation speed 150 rpm), pH 8, temperature 40°C, the best starch, Sodium nitrate and 4% of NaCl concentration that provided the highest enzyme production from A.ochraceus. For purification, the specific activity of the purified amylase from A. ochraceuswas found as 3670.51 (units/mg prot/ml). Approximately 5.66 folds of purification were found by purification with 81.45 % yield. According to this finding, the halophilic fungi of A. ochraceus showed promising amylolytic activities for biotechnological applications.