Xylanase Production by Bacillus sp. A-6 Isolated from Rice Bran

A Bacillus sp. A-6 strain that produced xylanase was isolated from rice bran. The optimal temperature and pH for xylanase activity of the culture supernatant of Bacillus sp. A-6 were 40$^{\circ}C$ and pH 7, respectively. The optimal temperature and pH for xylanase production in the xylan medium were 30$^{\circ}C$ and pH 9, respectively. The optimal concentrations of oat spelt xylan and peptone for xylanase production were 0.5% and 1.5%, respectively. The best nitrogen sources for xylanase production was beef extract, but xylanase production was also supported comparably by tryptone and peptone. The bacterial growth in the optimal xylan medium reached stationary growth phase after 12 h of incubation. The xylanase production in the culture supernatant increased dramatically during the initial 12 h exponential growth phase and then remained constant at 23.8-24.5 unit/ml during the stationary growth phase. The pH of the culture medium decreased from 8.8 to 6.7 during the exponential growth phase and subsequently increased to 8.1 during the stationary growth phase. Rice bran, sorghum bran, and wheat bran as well as oat spelt xylan induced xylanase production. The xylanase production was repressed when glucose was added to the xylan-containing medium.