Abstract

Amylases are enzymes that hydrolyze starch, releasing several products including dextrines and small polymers of glucose units. This work investigated the capacity of the endophytic fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides of producing the amylolytic enzymes ï¡-amylase and glucoamylase through fermentation in semi-solid medium of residues of the processing of rice, without supplementation. The ï¡-amylase activity was determined according to the methodology of Pandey et al. (2005) and that of glucoamylase was determined through the release of reducing sugars, dosed by the DNS method described by Soccol (1992). The results show that the fungus C. gloeosporioides showed the highest peaks of enzymatic production at 96 h, where 563.32 U/g of ï¡-amylase and 345.30 U/g of glucoamylase were obtained at 28°C and pH 5.49. With these data it is concluded that the fungus C. gloeosporioides has great capacity of producing amylolytic enzymes (-amylase and glucoamylase) through fermentation in rice-based solid state without supplementation.

Key words: Starch, biotechnology, enzymes, processes, endophytic, rice.