Direct recovery of Bacillus subtilis xylanase from fermentation broth with an alcohol/salt aqueous biphasic system

Xylanase enzyme degrades linear polysaccharide β-1,4 xylan and the hemicellulose of the plant cell wall. There is a growing demand in finding a cost-effective alternative for industrial scale production of xylanase with high purity for pharmaceutical applications. In this study, an alcohol/salt aqueous biphasic system (ABS) was adopted to recover xylanase from the Bacillus subtilis fermentation broth. The effects of several ABS parameters such as types and concentrations of alcohols and salts (i.e., sulphate, phosphate, and citrate), amount of crude loading and pH of the system on the recovery of xylanase were investigated. Partition coefficient of xylanase (KE), selectivity (S) and yield (YT) of xylanase in top phase of the ABS were measured. Highest KE (6.58 ± 0.05) and selectivity (4.84 ± 0.33) were recorded in an ABS of pH 8 composed of 26% (w/w) 1-propanol, 18% (w/w) ammonium sulphate. High YT of 71.88% ± 0.15 and a purification fold (PFT) of 5.74 ± 0.33 were recorded with this optimum recovery of xylanase using alcohol/salt ABS. The purity of xylanase recovered was then qualitatively verified with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) gel electrophoresis. The SDS profile revealed the purified xylanase was successfully obtained in the top phase of the one-step 1-propanol/sulphate ABS with a distinct single band.