Strain Screening Results of High-Xylanase Producing Trichoderma Strains
A total of 117 Trichoderma strains were isolated and purified. The screening process was carried out using shake-flask fermentation, and the results are illustrated in Fig. 1. Among the tested strains, strain JK8 demonstrated the highest xylanase activity, thereby designating it as a high-xylanase-producing strain for subsequent experiments.
Identification of Xylanase-producing Strains
As illustrated in Fig. 2a, strain Tsejk8 exhibited rapid growth on PDA medium, characterized by initial white mycelium. After 4 days, it began spore production, and the aerial mycelium became well-developed. In contrast, Fig. 2b shows slower growth on SNA medium, with initial white mycelium and spore production commencing after 5 days, accompanied by less developed aerial mycelium.
Observations under a light microscope, depicted in Fig. 2c, revealed that the mycelium was white or light-colored, slender, septate, and highly branched. Conidiophores were organized into dense, hemispherical to cushion-like structures, typically displaying extensive branching at acute or nearly right angles, in whorls of 2 to 4, with conidial areas exhibiting various shades of green or gray. As indicated in Fig. 2d, the conidia were unicellular, spherical, and green. The strain showed rapid growth; as shown in Fig. 2e, it reached a diameter of 6.33 cm after 60 h of incubation at 28°C on PDA medium, while on SNA medium, it attained a diameter of 5.5 cm under the same conditions. The limited nutritional components of the SNA medium compared to PDA suggest that nutritional factors minimally impact the growth of this strain. Preliminary identification confirmed JK8 as Trichoderma semiorbis.
Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this strain shares the highest homology with Trichoderma semiorbis isolate HZA10 (OR046019.1), as depicted in Fig. 2f, where the strain is positioned in the same branch. Combining molecular biological and morphological identification, the strain was ultimately confirmed as Trichoderma semiorbis and designated as Tsejk8.
Figure 1 Screening of Trichoderma strains producing xylanase
Figure 2 Growth characteristics of strain Tsejk8. (a) Morphology on PDA medium. (b) Morphology of SNA medium. (c) Characteristics of conidiophores (scale: 10 µm). (d) Characteristics of conidia (scale of 10 µm). (e) Strain growth rate. (f) phylogenetic tree of Tef1 gene cloned from Tsejk8
The Optimal Culture Conditions for the Production of Xylanase Enzyme
In order to improve laccase production, the fermentation conditions including carbon source, nitrogen source, initial pH and incubation time were optimized (Fig. 3). Figure 3a illustrates that when xylan served as the carbon source in the culture medium, enzyme activity in the fermentation broth's supernatant was significantly elevated. In contrast, the use of sucrose, glucose, or maltose as carbon sources resulted in lower enzyme activity, suggesting that polysaccharides such as starch and xylan are more effective than monosaccharides or disaccharides in promoting xylanase production by the strain. Dhaver (Dhaver et al 2022) optimized the culture conditions and medium components for xylanase production by T. harzianum, discovering that the incorporation of xylan-rich materials, such as wheat bran, significantly improved xylanase yield.
Figure 3 Optimization of enzyme production conditions of Tsejk8. (a) Carbon sources. (b) Nitrogen sources. (c) Initial pH. (d) Fermentation time. Statistical analysis was conducted using ANOVA in R. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences (p < 0.05), whereas identical letters denote no significant difference.
With xylan established as the carbon source, potassium nitrate yielded the lowest enzyme activity in the fermentation broth's supernatant. Conversely, sodium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, peptone, and yeast extract all produced higher enzyme activity, with peptone yielding the highest enzyme activity in the fermentation broth (Fig. 3b). Organic nitrogen sources, such as tryptone, yeast extract, peptone, and soy meal, have a significant impact on the enhancement of xylanase production. Aspergillus sp. IN5 is reported to be highly productive in the presence of soybean residue (Boondaeng et al 2024), corn step liquor for T. reesi (Lappalainen et al 2000) and peptone for Pichia kudriavzevii. Although no significant differences in enzyme activity were observed among the four nitrogen sources—sodium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, peptone, and yeast extract. In consideration of prior research findings, we selected peptone as the optimal nitrogen source for strain Tsejk8.
Figure 3c illustrates that when xylan and peptone were employed as the carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, pH values of 4 and 8 resulted in high enzyme activity in the fermentation broth. Raghukumar (Raghukumar et al 2004) also observed that the A. niger strain isolated from mangrove detritus exhibited maximum activity at pH 3.5, with an additional peak at pH 8.5. Additionally, pH 8 is more conducive to the growth of Trichoderma. therefore, it was selected as the optimal pH. Thus, a pH of 8 is concluded to be the optimal pH for xylanase production by strain Tsejk8.
Figure 3d indicates that when xylan was used as the carbon source, peptone as the nitrogen source, and a pH of 8 was maintained, a cultivation time of 120 h resulted in elevated enzyme activity in the fermentation broth. Although no significant differences in enzyme activity were observed among the 48h, 96h, 120h, and 144h time points, 120h was chosen as the optimal cultivation time based on previous research findings and the growth characteristics of Trichoderma. Following optimization, the enzyme activity of Tsejk8 reached 40.7 U/mL, indicating a 35.6% increase compared to the levels recorded before optimization.
Purification of Xylanase from Tsejk8
As presented in Table 1, the initial crude enzyme solution had a total volume of 80 mL, exhibiting a total activity 2,075.491 U/mg. Following the ammonium sulfate precipitation treatment, a clarified enzyme solution with a total volume of 8.2 mL was collected, at which point the total activity increased to 2,530.92 U/mg. Compared to the initial crude enzyme solution, the purification fold reached 1.2, and the enzyme activity recovery rate was 24.4%. Subsequently, after further purification using a DEAE-cellulose ion exchange column, the xylanase solution's total activity exhibited a remarkable increase to 25,625.82 U/mg. In comparison to the initial crude enzyme solution, the purification fold significantly increased to 12.3, and the enzyme activity recovery rate improved to 35.6%.
Table 1
Purification Step | Total Volume (mL) | Total Activity (U) | Total Protein (mg) | Specific Activity (U/g) | Recovery Rate (%) | Purification Fold |
|---|
Crude Enzyme Solution | 80 ± 4.50 | 1516.3 ± 107.45 | 0.73 ± 0.065 | 2.08 ± 0.041 | 100 | 1 |
Ammonium Sulfate Precipitation and Dialysis | 8.2 ± 0.75 | 369.64 ± 39.65 | 0.15 ± 0.016 | 2.53 ± 0.012 | 24.4 ± 0.89 | 1.2 ± 0.029 |
Anion Exchange Chromatography | 13 ± 0.60 | 539.40 ± 39.9 | 0.02 ± 0.004 | 25.63 ± 2.625 | 35.6 ± 2.11 | 12.3 ± 1.019 |
Table 1 Purification of Xylanase
Enzymatic Characterization
The fermentation broth of strain Tsejk8 was filtered using a 0.22 µm membrane to obtain a crude enzyme solution (corresponding to lane 1 in Fig. 4a), which initially removed large molecular impurities from the fermentation broth, establishing a foundation for the subsequent purification process. The crude enzyme solution was then processed through ammonium sulfate precipitation. This method leveraged the differences in protein solubility at varying salt concentrations to achieve preliminary enrichment of the target protein, with the resulting precipitate corresponding to lane 2 in Fig. 4a. The ammonium sulfate-precipitated sample then underwent further purification via DEAE-cellulose ion exchange chromatography. Utilizing the principle of ion exchange, the target xylanase was separated from other impurities based on the charge properties and quantities of the proteins. The treated sample post this step is presented in lane 3 of Fig. 4a. SDS-PAGE electrophoresis was performed on samples at each stage, indicate that as the purification process advances, the number of protein bands progressively decreases, ultimately revealing five principal bands with molecular weights ranging from 35 to 100 kDa.
Effect of Temperature and pH on Xylanase Activity
The enzyme activity was measured across six different temperatures. As shown in Fig. 4B, within the temperature range of 20 to 30°C, enzyme activity gradually increased with rising temperature. The xylanase activity for strain Tsejk8 peaked at 30°C after a 30-min reaction. Although elevated temperatures from 30 to 40°C also resulted in high enzyme activity after 30 min, the activity was lower compared to that observed at 30°C. Beyond 50°C, enzyme activity rapidly declined. Therefore, the optimal reaction temperature for strain Tsejk8 is approximately 30°C. Figure 4C illustrates that within a pH range of 3.0 to 4.0, enzyme activity increased with increasing pH, peaking at pH 4.0. However, in the pH range of 4.0 to 8.0, enzyme activity significantly decreased as pH continued to rise, suggesting that xylanase produced by strain Tsejk8 is an acidophilic enzyme, with an optimal pH of 4.0.
Figure 4 Properties of xylanase. Effect of temperature and pH on xylanase activity. (a) SDS-PAGE electropherogram. M, marker. Lane1, crude fermentation broth. Lane2, ammonium sulfate precipitation. Lane3, DEAE-cellulose ion-exchange chromatography. (b) Effect of temperature on xylanase activity. (c) Effect of pH on xylanase activity.
Analysis of Xylanase-related Proteins
Upon excising the protein bands and conducting sequencing, we identified 14 proteins with molecular weights ranging from 41.6 to 98.9 kDa. Domain analysis revealed that two of these proteins (Tsebxl01 and Tsebxl02) belong to the PLN03080 superfamily (Fig. 5). Clustering analysis indicated that Tsebxl01 has the highest homology with the BXL1 protein of T. guizhouense, while Tsebxl02 exhibits the highest homology with the BXL1 protein of T. simmonsii, both of which are classified within the xylanase family. Xylanolytic enzymes are classified as glycoside hydrolases (GH) based on homologies in structural elements and hydrophobic clusters, and they are organized into several families, namely 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 26, 30, 43, 44, 51, and 62. These enzymes are capable of hydrolyzing the β-1,4-glycosidic linkages in xylosides (Nguyen et al 2018). In this study, we cloned two β-xylosidases, Tasbxl01 and Tasbxl02, which belong to the GH3 family.
Table 2 Analysis of Proteins
Table 2
Accession | Sore Sequest | MW (kDa) | Calc.pI | Size of mRNA(bp) | Note |
|---|
Tsejk801 | 2.49 | 61.9 | 6.23 | 1731 | Isoamyl alcohol oxidase |
Tsejk802 | 13.27 | 69 | 5.6 | 1989 | Xyloglucanase |
Tsejk803 | 2.35 | 77.2 | 7.23 | 2205 | GH3 beta-glucosidase |
Tsebxl01 | 35.1 | 86.7 | 5.55 | 2388 | GH3 beta-xylosidase |
Tsejk805 | 12.38 | 80.4 | 6.98 | 2283 | Glucan endo-1,3-beta-glucosidase |
Tsejk806 | 2.87 | 67.5 | 5.29 | 1902 | GH15 glucamylase |
Tsebxl02 | 10.24 | 81 | 5.45 | 2295 | GH3 beta-xylosidase |
Tsejk808 | 8.93 | 62.5 | 7.01 | 1731 | Amidase |
Tsejk809 | 82.71 | 83 | 7.4 | 2328 | GH55 exo-1 3-beta-glucanase |
Tsejk810 | 43.36 | 61.5 | 6.07 | 1728 | GH71, alpha-1,3-glucanase |
Tsejk811 | 24.46 | 53.9 | 5.47 | 1464 | Glutaminase A |
Tsejk812 | 2.41 | 41.6 | 5.69 | 1128 | Actin |
Tsejk813 | 2.33 | 98.9 | 5.74 | 2673 | Exo-beta-D-glucosaminidase |
Tsejk814 | 2.41 | 92.6 | 6.9 | 2637 | Subtilisin-like protease PPRC1 |
| Notes: Score Sequest: The sum of peptide scores reflects the overall confidence in protein identification; a higher score indicates greater reliability. |
Figure 5 Analysis of the xylanase proteins. (a) Domain of the 16 proteins; (b) phylogenetic tree of two xylanase proteins