Studies on the effect of pH and carbon sources on enzyme activities of some pectinolytic bacteria isolated from jute retting water

The effect of pH of the assay media and different carbon sources in the culture media on the activities of 4 different enzymes, namely polygalacturonase (PG), pectin lyase (PNL), xylanase, and cellulase, of some pectinolytic bacteria were studied. The pectinolytic bacterial strains were isolated from the jute retting water bodies of 2 important jute growing areas of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. The highest PG (12.45 to 41.0 IU/g cell wet weight) and PNL (22.55 to 75.7 U/mL) activities occurred at the alkaline pH of 8.0 and 8.5, respectively. Maximum xylanase activity (0.01 to 0.735 mu mol/mL/min) occurred at pH 7.0. An acidic pH of 5.0 favored the cellulase activity (0 to 0.168 mu mol/mL/min). All the enzymes were highly substrate specific and inducible in nature. The highest PG and PNL activities were observed in the presence of pectin, whereas the highest xylanase and cellulase activities were detected in the presence of xylan and cellulose, respectively, as the sole carbon source in the media.