Production of an extracellular lipase byBeauveria bassiana

Summary The entomopathogenic fungus,Beauveria bassiana, produces an extracellular lipase when grown on a yeast extract-peptone-dextrose broth (YPD) medium. The time course of lipase production in the presence of olive oil was studied and which was shown to induce lipase. The addition of fatty acids, such as, myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and arachidic acids, inhibited both growth and lipase production. Lipase production was also assessed on YPD and glucose minimal salts (GMS) medium. The addition of olive oil increased the lipase induction much more on, YPD than on the GMS. The effect of the divalent metal ions; iron, copper and magnesium, on lipase activity was studied. Whereas the iron and copper inhibited lipase activity, magnesium slightly increased lipase activity. Compounds containing a hydrolyzable ester group, such as Tweens, were found to inhibit lipase activity.