Effect of glucose addition and N sources in defined media on fibrolytic activity profiles of Neocallimastix sp. YQ1 grown on corn stover.

Cleavage of plant cell wall arabinoxylans occurs by the action of ferulic acid esterase (FAE) and acetyl esterase (AE), which cleave feruloyl groups substituted at the 5'-OH group of arabinosyl residues and acetyl groups substituted at O-2/O-3 of the xylan backbone, respectively. In this study, we examined the enzyme profiles of the anaerobic rumen fungus Neocallimastix sp. YQ1 for FAE, AE and polysaccharide hydrolases when grown on corn stover, a lignin-rich waste biomaterial. A 2 × 4 factorial experiment in 10-days pure cultures was used to test glucose addition (G(+) : glucose at 1.0 g/l, G(-) : no glucose) and four N sources (N1: 1.0 g/l yeast extract, 1.0 g/l tryptone and 0.5 g/l (NH(4))(2) SO(4); N2: 2.8 g/l yeast extract and 0.5 g/l (NH(4))(2) SO(4) ; N3: 1.6 g/l tryptone and 0.5 g/l (NH(4))(2) SO(4); N4: 1.4 g/l tryptone and 1.7 g/l yeast extract) in defined media. The optimal combinations of glucose and N sources to promote FAE and AE activity were G(+) N2 and G(+) N4, respectively. The peak activities of FAE and AE occurred on days 9 and 10, respectively. Addition of glucose and an increase in yeast extract and/or tryptone to a Hungate's medium favoured fungal production of volatile fatty acids, which could be just a consequence of more organic matter available to digest. This suggests that enzymatic release of ferulic acid by a synergistic action of lignin hydrolytic esterase and polysaccharide hydrolases may be essential for plant cell wall biodegradation in the rumen.