ORIGINAL PAPER A new strain of Bjerkandera sp. production, purification and characterization of versatile peroxidase

Abstract The lignin modifying enzymes (LMEs) secreted by a new white rot fungus isolated from Chile were studied in this work. This fungus has been identified as a new ana-morph of Bjerkandera sp. based on the sequences of the ribosomal DNA and morphological analysis at light microscopy showing hyaline hyphae without clamp con-nection, cylindrical conidia and lack of sexual forms, similar to those reported in other Bjerkandera anamorphs. The characterization of the culture medium for the highest LMEs production was performed in flask cultures, with a formu-lation of the culture medium containing high levels of glu-cose and peptone. The highest Mn-oxidizing peroxidase activity (1,400 U/L) was achieved on day 6 in Erlenmeyer flasks. Four peroxidases (named R1B1, R1B2, R1B3 and R1B4), have been purified by using ion-exchange and exclusion molar chromatographies. All of them showed typical activity on Mn2? and exhibited Mn-independent activity against 2,6-dimethoxyphenol. R1B4 showed also activity on veratryl alcohol (pH 3) indicating that this enzyme belongs to the versatile peroxidase family. The high VP production capacities of this strain, as well as the enzymatic characteristics of the LMEs suggest that it may be successfully used in the degradation of recalcitrant compounds