Production of Dye-decolorizing Enzyme using Molasses-containing Medium

Production of dye-decolorizing enzyme was investigated with the cultivation of Geotrichum candidum Dec1 (abbreviated to Dec1) using molasses as a cheap raw materials. Molasses was found to stimulate the enzyme production as well as a role of carbon source, because the production increased with molasses content up to 50 g/L. However, the severe inhibition of dye-decolorizing enzyme activity was observed even at low concentration of molasses 10 g/L when purified decolorizing peroxidase was used. Its inhibitory effect was reduced through the cultivation of Dec1. The fractions of molasses separated by a gel chromatography showed the different degrees of inhibition. As a way to reduce the inhibitory effect, the dilution of culture broth was examined, and the total decolorizing activity for Reactive blue 5 increased 7 times as much as that of original culture broth by 30 times dilution. On the basis of result, we proposed a process scheme which can fully utilize both positive and negative effect of molasses in dye-decolorizing process using molasses.