Purification and characterization of two d-xylanases from Trichoderma harzianum

Two endo-1,4-β- d-xylanases (1,4-β- d-xylan xylanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.8) from Trichoderma harzianum E58 have been purified by ultrafiltration and chromatography on carboxymethyl-Sepharose, phenyl-Sepharose and Sephadex G-75. The d-xylanases were shown to be homogeneous by the criteria of dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing. The molecular weights were estimated to be 20 000 and 29 000, with pl values of 9.4 and 9.5, respectively. Typically, 456 mg of the 20 000 dalton and 1.9 mg of the 29 000 dalton d-xylanases were purified from 4.2 litre of culture filtrate with specific activities of 370 and 75 U mg −1, respectively. Optimum d-xylanase activities were obtained when the enzymes were incubated at pH 5, 50°C, for the 20 000 dalton protein and pH 5, 60°C for the 29 000 dalton protein .