Growth of Leucoagaricus gongylophorus Moller (Singer) and production of key enzymes in submerged and solid-state cultures with lignocellulosic substrates

The aim of this study was to characterize the growth of the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus LEU18496, isolated from the fungus garden of the nest of leaf cutter ants Atta mexicana. The fungus garden was cultivated in an artificial laboratory nest and the fungus further grown in submerged (SmC) and solid state (SSC) cultures with sugarcane bagasse, grass or model substrates containing CM-cellulose, xylan or lignin. The CO2 production rate with grass in SmC (Vmax 34.76 mg CO2 L-gas(-1) day(- 1)) was almost four times than SSC (Vmax 9.49 mg CO2 L-gas(-1) day(- 1)), while the production rate obtained in sugarcane bagasse in SmC (Vmax 16.02 mg CO2 L-gas(-1) day(- 1)) was almost three times than that for SSC (Vmax 5.42 mg CO2 L-gas(-1) day(- 1)). In addition, the fungus grew with defined carbon substrates mixtures in SmC, but at different rates, first xylan, followed by CM-cellulose and lignin. Endoglucanase and xylanase activities (U mg(protein)(-1)) were detected in all cultures, the specific activity was higher in the fungus-garden, 5.2 and 1.8; followed by SSC-grass, 1.5 and 0.8, and SSC-bagasse, 0.9 and 0.8, respectively. Laccase activity in the fungus-garden was 44.8 U L- 1 and 10.9 U L- 1 in the SSC-grass. The gongylidia structures observed by environmental scanning electron microscopy were ca. 40 mu m and the hyphae width ca. 5 mu m. The results show that L. gongylophorus from A. mexicana have promising applications for the treatment of plant residues to release fermentable sugars and the production of high value lignocellulolytic enzymes such as endoglucanase, xylanase or laccases.

Automated summary

This study characterized the growth of the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus LEU18496 isolated from the fungus garden of leaf cutter ants, and found that it exhibited different growth rates and enzymatic activities under various substrates and cultivation conditions, showing promising applications for plant residue treatment and high value enzyme production.