Purification and Characterization of a Thermostable Xylanase from Fomitopsis pinicola

An extracellular xylanase was purified to homogeneity by sequential chromatography of Fomitopsis pinicola culture supernatants on a DEAE-Sepharose column, a gel filtration column, and then on a MonoQ column with fast protein liquid chromatography. The relative molecular mass of the E pinicola xylanase was determined to be 58 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and by size-exclusion chromatography, indicating that the enzyme is a monomer. The hydrolytic activity of the xylanase had a pH optimum of 4.5 and a temperature optimum of 70 degrees C. The enzyme showed a t(1/2) value of 33 h at 70 degrees C and catalytic efficiency (k(cat)=77.4 s(-1), k(cat)/K-m=22.7 mg/ml/s) for oatspelt xylan. Its internal amino acid sequences showed a significant homology with hydrolases from glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 10, indicating that the E pinicola xylanase is a member of GH family 10.