Production and biochemical characterization of polygalacturonases produced by Aureobasidium pullulans from forest soil

The production of individual form of extracellular polygalacturonase by Aureobasidium pullulans from forest soil was found to depend on the pH of cultivation medium as well as on the nitrogen source in the precultivation or cultivation medium. Polygalacturonases were purified and characterized. The pH optima of polygalacturonases produced in the first phases of cultivation (24 or 48 h) and after 10 days as well as their molecular masses, isoelectric points, action pattern and ability to cleave polymeric and oligomeric substrates were different. Generally, polygalacturonases with random action pattern (EC 3.2.1.15) were produced only in the first phases of cultivation in acidic medium. The function of these enzymes for A. pullulans in the colonization of plant material rather than in the destruction of plant was hypothesized in physiological conditions. Exopolygalacturonases (EC 3.2.1.67) with terminal action pattern were produced in later phases of growth. Oligogalacturonate hydrolase as well as strongly basic polygalacturonase with unusual action pattern on substrates were found.