D. J. Mukesh kumar, T. Silambarasan, R. Renuga, M. Ravi kumar, S. Karthigai devi, Dhandapani Ramamurthy and P. T. Kalaichelvan
A mesophilic bacterium, Bacillus megaterium BPTK5 was isolated from cassava waste samples collected from starch processing plant (TN, India). The isolate was assayed for its ability to produce α-amylase and glucose isomerase. Experiments were set to observe the effects of incubation time, pH, temperature, and carbon and nitrogen sources on the growth of BPTK5 and its enzyme activities. Optimum biomass and amylolytic activity was achieved after 76 h of incubation, at 35°C, pH 6.0. Among the various carbon and nitrogen sources investigated, starch and casein were found to be the best inducers of α-amylase. An increase in glucose isomerase activity was observed at 48 h of incubation at 35°C with the initial pH of 6in the presence of Xylose and peptone. Thus Bacillus megaterium BPTK5 was proved to be an industrially important microbe involved in HFCS manufacturing.
