Mutagenesis and evaluation of cellulase properties and cellulose hydrolysis of Talaromyces piceus.

A fungal species with a high yield of β-glucosidase was isolated and identified as Talaromyces piceus 9-3 (anamorph: Penicillium piceum) by morphological and molecular characterization. Through dimethyl sulphate mutagenesis, the cellulase over-producing strain T. piceus H16 was obtained. The FPase activity and β-glucosidase activity of T. piceus H16 were 5.83 and 53.12 IU ml(-1) respectively--a 5.34- and 4.43-times improvement from the parent strain T. piceus 9-3. The optimum pH and temperature for enzyme activity were pH 5.0 and 50 °C for FPase activity and pH 5.0 and 55 °C for β-glucosidase activity, respectively. The cellulase were quite stable at 37 °C, only losing <10% of their initial activity after 24 h of incubation. Hydrolysis analysis results showed that a highly efficient synergistic effect was achieved by combining cellulase from T. piceus H16 with that from Trichoderma reesei RUT C30 on hydrolyzing different substrates due to the high β-glucosidase activity of T. piceus H16. These data suggest that T. piceus H16 can be used as a potential cellulase producer with good prospects.