Glucoamylase is widely used in the food industry to produce high glucose syrup, and also in fermentation processes for production beer and ethanol. In this work the productivity of the glucoamylase of Aspergillus awamori expressed by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, produced in submerged fermentation using different starches, was evaluated and characterized physico-chemically. The enzyme presented high specific activity, 13.8 U/mgprotein or 2.9 U/mgbiomass, after 48 h of fermentation using soluble starch as substrate. Glucoamylase presented optimum activity at temperature of 55ºC, and, in the substratum absence, the thermostability was for 1h at 50ºC. The optimum pH of activity was pH 3.5 - 4.0 and the pH stability between 5.0 and 7.0. The half life at 65ºC was at 30.2 min, and the thermal energy of denaturation was 234.3 KJ mol-1. The hydrolysis of different substrate showed the enzyme's preference for the substrate with a larger polymerization degree. The gelatinized corn starch was the substratum most susceptible to the enzymatic action.
Glucoamylase; Aspergillus awamori; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Corn starch; Potato starch; Cassava starch
