Inhibition of Proteases during Fermentation Improves Xylanase Production by Alkali Tolerant Aspergillus fumigatus AR1

An alkali-tolerant Aspergillus fumigatus AR1 produced a high level of xylanase (228 U/ml) at 42 h of submerged fermentation at pH 9.0. During later culture periods, xylanase activity declined considerably and reached 45 U/ml at 90 h. This trend is because of proteolytic degradation of xylanases since A. fumigatus co-produced multiple proteases with high activity (120-159 U/ml) during submerged fermentation. Xylanase and protease were found to be active over a wide range of pH from 5.5 to 9.0. In contrast, protease lost its activity completely in the presence of CuSO4 (25 mM) while xylanase remained active. The selective inhibition of proteases by the addition of CuSO4 to the culture medium prevented proteolytic degradation of xylanase and improved the production of xylanase by 3-fold.