Screening, Identification, and Optimization of Enzyme-Producing Conditions for Cellulose-Degrading Bacteria in Distillery Lees

Abstract

Cellulose-degrading bacteria were identified from distillery lees, and the strains were optimized for fermentation and enzyme production, providing effective strains for the resource utilization of distillery lees and developing cellulase. Based on the univariate test, the response surface test was used to optimize enzyme production conditions for fermentation. The screened strain JZ2 had a clear circle-to-colony diameter ratio of 2.0. The enzyme activities of exoglucanase, endoglucanase, and β-glucosidase were 4.341 ± 0.05 U/mL, 1.874 ± 0.04 U/mL, and 0.739 ± 0.02 U/mL, respectively. The bacterial colonies were large, and the bacterial cells’ morphology was rod-shaped. We identified Bacillus cereus (JZ2) from 16S rDNA sequence homology and phylogenetic tree analysis as belonging to the genus Bacillus in the thick-walled Bacillus phylum. The optimum production conditions of cellulase from strain JZ2 were a fermentation time of 2 d, a rotation rate of 180× g, and a temperature of 26 °C using the response surface method. The enzyme activity of JZ2 was 4.625 U/mL under optimal enzyme production conditions. In addition to good activity, the cellulase from the JZ2 strain may have the potential to convert distillery lees cellulose into useful compounds.