A Preliminary Study on the Newly Isolated High Laccase-producing Fungi: Screening, Strain Characteristics and Induction of Laccase Production

A simple separation method was used in this study to directly separate laccase-producing fungi from withered plant materials. A laccase-producing filamentous fungus was isolated and purified. The strain was highly similar to the species in genus Trametes by ITS sequence analysis, and therefore named Trametes sp. MA-X01. The addition of cupric ions and aromatic compounds to the liquid medium could induce the laccase synthesis in Trametes sp. MA-X01. Copper-induced laccase activity increased in a dose-dependent manner. The highest laccase activity (2138.9 +/- 340.2 U/L) was obtained by adding 2.5 mM Cu2+ to the culture medium, which was about 7 times higher than that of the control group. The induction degree of aromatic compounds was different. For the present study, the highest laccase activities were obtained by adding vanillic acid (1007.9 +/- 59.5 U/L) or vanillin (981.6 +/- 77.2 U/L) to the medium, which were 3.5 and 3.4 times higher than the laccase activity of the control group, respectively.