Phosphatase production byAspergillus ficuum

Effects of nutritional and cultural conditions on cell growth and phosphatase production byAspergillus ficuum were studied.A. ficuum produced high levels of phosphatases when grown on a basal medium that contained a minimal amount (2 mg/100 ml) of phosphorus in an acidic growth medium. The organism produced a nonspecific acid phosphomonoesterase rather than phytin-specific phosphatase. The enzyme hydrolyzed a variety of phosphates and produced orthophosphate. The rate of phosphate hydrolysis was dependent on the pH of the reaction, where the pH optimum for acid phosphatase was 2.5 and that for phytase was 5.0. The organism slowly released the phosphatase, and the enzyme activity in the growth medium increased continually during a one-month growth period. For a high level of phosphatase production, low levels (1–5 mg%) of initial phosphorus were necessary and polyphosphates were the desired form rather than the monophosphate. The addition of surfactants, such as polyoxyethylene ethers and sodium oleate, to fungal culture medium markedly increased the level of phosphatase production.