Purification and Characterization of Cold-active α-Amylase Excreted by A Strain of Marine Cold-adaptive Penicillia

The filamentous fungi from the Huanghai sea sludge were screened according to their ability to produce cold-active α-amylase. The strain with the highest amylase activity was identified as Penicilllum species. The α-amylase purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation and column chromatography on DEAE-sepharose and sephadex G-100 shows a molecular weight of about 55000 and a pl of 4. 38. The enzyme is stable in a pH range of 5.5—8.0 and has a maximum activity at pH 6.0. Compared with the α-amylase from mesophiles and thermophiles, the cold-active enzyme shows a high enzyme activity at lower temperatures and a high sensitivity at temperatures higher than 50℃. The optimal temperature is 40℃ and the activity decreases dramatically at temperatures above 50℃. Ca^2 shows a significant effect on maintaining the structure and the activity of the enzyme. EDTA and Cu^2 are its inhibitors. The products from the hydrolysis of soluble starch with the cold-active enzyme are maltose and other oligosaccharides.