Biosynthesis of laccase from Cerrena unicolor: kinetic aspects of fungal growth and enzyme production

In spite of various possible industrial applications of laccase produced by wood-rotting basidiomycetes, the investigations concerning kinetics of the fungal growth are still limited. Thus, the aim of this paper was to describe the growth kinetics of white-rot fungus Cerrena unicolor and the synthesis of its secondary metabolite, laccase. Glucose was used as a carbon source in the cultivation and L-asparagine as a nitrogen source. The production of the enzyme appeared to be non-growth associated since it is secreted concomitantly to biomass decay. The formation of laccase occurred to be repressed by glucose, but there was no such strong impact of organic nitrogen content. However, the amount of biomass in the system was influenced by both asparagine and glucose concentration in the medium.