Extracellular invertase from Aspergillus athecius: Isolation and immobilization

Summary A fungal strain isolated from soil and identified asAspergillus athecius, when grown on moistened wheat bran produced large amounts of extracellular invertase. Most of the invertase from the moldy bran was easily extracted by low ionic strength buffer (0.005 M, pH 5.7). The crude invertase immobilized on DEAE cellulose showed not only increased activity (45%) but also greater thermal and storage stability than the free enzyme. The free and the bound enzymes showed a temperature optimum of 50–55°C and a pH optimum of 5.7 and 4.8 respectively. The K_m app. of the bound enzyme was lower than that of the free enzyme.