REPORT Biochemical and molecular characterization of catalase enzyme in the saprobic fungus: Sordaria fimicola

Abstract

Fungi have been used in modern scientific research due to their high potential for different enzymes production based on genomic features. The great proportion of soil mycoflora represented by saprobic fungi plays an important role in decomposition, thus contribute to the global carbon cycle. Sordaria fimicola strains (n= 61) collected from different environments were evaluated for catalase enzyme activity at first stage. Among all 61 isolates of S. fimicola, five strains viz. S1, S2, N7, N6 and SF13 were found to be most efficient in catalase enzyme activity. The complete catalase gene including exons and introns was amplified and sequenced from the most efficient strains of S. fimicola and then submitted in the NCBI data base under accession numbers KM282183, KM282184, KM282186, KM282185 and KM282182 for strains S1, S2, N7, N6 and SF13 respectively. The significant differences in the genes sequences and theoretically translated proteins were observed for all five strains of S. fimicola. As regards catalase enzyme activity, S. fimicola strains were found comparable to the Aspergillus niger strains, therefore being a saprophytic fungus with short life cycle S. fimicola can become a fungus of choice to produce catalase enzyme at large scale.