Production and characterization of xylanase from

Summary. The black rot fungus Thielaviopsis basicola has the ability to grow on cellulosic biomass, producing xylanase. Of the four cellulosic substrates tested, rice straw was found to be the best for production of xylanase. A xylanase activity of 34 U/ml was obtained with rice straw which was more than three times that obtained with larchwood xylan. The fl-xylosidase activities obtained with these two substrates were 0.05 U/ml and 0.016 U/ml respectively. Both enzymes are active at pH 5 but the temperature optima of xylanase and fl-xylosidase activities are 60°C and 40°C respectively. The xylanase activity is stable over a pH range of 4--8 but the stability towards temperature falls sharply above 50 ° C.