Microbial pectinases: Isolation, screening and production of pectinases by bacteria
*K. Girish
Department of Microbiology, Government College for Women Kolar - 563101 (India) E-mail: girishk77@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Pectinases are the enzymes that break down polysaccharide pectin of plant tissues into simpler molecules like galacturonic acid. They are present in fruits of plants where they play a natural role in the ripening process; but microbial sources are preferred for large-scale production. Different microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and also some actinomycetes are known to produce extracellular pectinases. Pectinases are frequently used in fruit and vegetable industry and various other industrial sectors wherever the degradation of pectin is required for a process. Owing to the importance of pectinase enzyme, a lot of researchers have studied and reported the isolation, identification and screening of bacteria from different sources for pectinolytic activity and their use for pectinase production.