DECOLORIZATION OF MOLASSES AND A DYE BY A NEWLY ISOLATED STRAIN OF THE FUNGUS GEOTRICHUM-CANDIDUM DEC 1

A fungus, Geotrichum candidum Dec 1, newly isolated as a dye-decoloriz ing microorganism, was used to decolorize molasses and an anthraquinon e dye in shaken flasks. A degree of decolorization of molasses of 87% was achieved after 12 days of cultivation, and the maximum rate of dec olorization of the dye in the culture broth was obtained in 7 days. Th e apparent activity of peroxidase in the molasses, which is responsibl e for dye decolorization, was significantly lower than that of purifie d peroxidase, due to the inhibition by molasses, but the inhibition wa s reduced after the fungus was fully grown. As two ultrafiltered fract ions of molasses were similarly decolorized by Dec 1, Dec 1 apparently degraded colored substances of a wide range of molecular weights. Whe n Dec 1 was cultivated in a medium in which sucrose in the molasses wa s hydrolyzed with invertase, the degree of decolorization of molasses, and rate of decolorization of the dye were similar to these obtained above. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 62: 114-119, 1999.