Enzimas pectinolíticas : seleção de linhagens fúngicas produtoras, caracterização e aplicação em processos da indústria de alimentos

Abstract

In this work, fungus samples isolated from decomposing vegetables were tested with respect to their capacity of producing pectinases to be applied to the enzymatic treatment of apple and bilberry juices. Taking in account the secretion of endo-polygalacturonase (endo-PG), two isolates which were identified and named Aspergillus niger LB23 e Aspergillus fumigatus LB39J were selected for solid-state and submerged cultivations, respectively. The enzymatic extracts from these strains did not present total aflatoxin (B1, B2, G1, G2) levels up to detection limit of 2 μg/Kg. The enzyme preparation obtained from solid-state cultivation of A. niger LB23 showed the largest activities of both endo-PG and exo-polygalacturonase (exo-PG) at pH 4.0, whereas the reaction with submerged A. fumigatus L39J enzymatic extracts was favoured at pH between 4.0 and 5.0 for endo-PG and 5.0 for exo-PG. With respect to the reaction temperature for A. niger LB23 pectinolytic preparation, endo and exo-PG showed the best performances at the ranges 40-50ºC and 50-60ºC, respectively. For A. fumigatus L39J polygalacturonases, a range from 40 to 60ºC, for endo-PG, and 60ºC, for exo-PG, were defined as the best temperatures. When the thermal stability of polygalacturonases present in both preparations was evaluated, preservation of about 70% of activities was observed after exposing the enzymes to temperatures up to 40ºC for 150 minutes. The influence of different glucose and pectin concentrations on the results of the solid-state process with A. niger LB23 was assessed and an increment in endo and exo-PG activities were observed in medium containing 6% (w/w) of pectin and absence of glucose, with activities of 65 units per gram of dry medium (U/gdm) and 198 U/gdm being achieved. In submerged cultivation of A. fumigatus LB39, highest enzyme activities were obtained in medium with 20 g/L of pectin and without glucose: 42 U/mL for endo-PG and 32 U/mL for exo-PG. In the conditions defined for the submerged process, different medium initial pH values were tested. Maximum activities were observed at initial pH of 3.0 for endo-PG (44 U/mL) and 4.0 for exo-PG (37 U/mL). Furthermore, in bench bioreactor, it was observed that an initial pH of 4.0, with uncontrolled minimum value and, afterwards, maximum value controlled at 3.5 led to the largest enzyme production with 81 U/mL of endo-PG and 49 U/mL of exo-PG. By comparing the enzymatic preparations produced by the selected strains, it was noticed that the pectinase produced by A. niger LB23 were more efficient for the hydrolysis of pectic substances present in both apple and bilberry juices, since it improved reduction of turbidity (90 and 40%) and viscosity (40 and 60%) and increasing clarification (90 and 55%), respectively. These results indicate the potential of A. niger LB23 pectinases for the enzymatic treatment of fruit juices, being remarkable that both the level of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of juices were mostly preserved after treatment.