Potencial de fungos entomopatogênicos para produção de enzimas proteolíticas extracelulares em meio de cultura sólido.

Abstract

Entomopathogenic fungi produce enzymes that are involved in the pathogenicity process. It is known that the virulence capacity is based on the production of extracellular enzymes (proteases), and little is observed in the literature on its use for the production of enzymes of industrial interest. These enzymes are widely used in the industry in various biotechnological processes. In the present study we propose to use a nutrient - poor culture medium with a single source of nitrogen, as energy source for the growth of entomopathogenic filamentous fungi, in order to characterize the proteolytic activity. Taking into account the biotechnological importance of proteolytic enzymes, the aim of this study was to verify the protease production potential obtained by filamentous fungi in a specific solid culture medium. For the determination of the proteolytic enzymatic activity (Pz) and the enzymatic index (IE), the agar-milk culture medium was used. The growth and formation of the degradation halo were evaluated for 12 days. The isolates M. anisopliae, B. bassiana, B. brongniartii, Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp. formed a halo of 0.1, 0.4, 0.4, 0.4 and 0.1 cm, respectively, and a positive Pz (class 2), showing that these isolates secrete the enzyme evaluated. Paecilomyces sp. did not form halo and had a negative Pz. Milk agar medium has been shown to be a potential substrate for the production of proteolytic enzymes with wide application in several biotechnological processes.