Isolation and Identification of the Fungi Producing a Soybean Milk Clotting Enzyme

두유 응고효소 생산 곰팡이의 분리 및 동정

Twenty-five fungal strains producing an extracellular soybean milk clotting enzyme were isolated from 146 soil samples, and identified as 11 species belonging to six genera of Aspergillus oryzae (5 strains), Aspergillus flavus (2 strains), Aspergillus parasiticus (1 strain), Aspergillus tamarii (2 strains), Aspergillus niger (4 strains), Aspergillus fumigatus (2 strains), Mucor hiemalis (2 strains), Wallemia sebi (4 strains), Scopulariopsis condida (1 strain), Fusarium redolens(1 strain) and Verticillum lecanii (1 strain). Among them, Aspergillus oryzae 020 and Aspergillus tamarii 287 showed relatively high soybean milk clotting activity. The coagulabilities of the enzyme from representative strains of those species decreased as the pH of soybean milk increased from 6.0 to 7.0 The optimum temperature for soybean milk clotting enzymes of those strains were 65$^{\circ}C$.