Chrysoporthe cubensis: A new source of cellulases and hemicellulases to application in biomass saccharification processes

The plant pathogenic fungus Chrysoporthe cubensis was cultivated under solid state employing different substrates and the highest endoglucanase (33.84 U g−1), FPase (2.52 U g−1), β-glucosidase (21.55 U g−1) and xylanase (362.38 U g−1) activities were obtained using wheat bran as carbon source. Cellulases and xylanase produced by C. cubensis showed maximal hydrolysis rate at pH 4.0 and in a temperature range of 50–60 °C. All enzymatic activities were highly stable at 40 and 50 °C through 48 h of pre-incubation. Saccharification of alkaline pretreated sugarcane bagasse by crude enzyme extract from C. cubensis resulted in release of 320.8 mg/g and 288.7 mg/g of glucose and xylose, respectively. On another hand, a similar assay employing commercial cellulase preparation resulted in release of 250.6 mg/g and 62.1 mg/g of glucose and xylose, respectively. Cellulolytic extract from C. cubensis showed a great potential to be used in biomass saccharification processes.