Abstract

Farheen Aslam*, Aliza Fatima, Kashaf Ul Eman, Laiba Abdul Manan and Saima Iftikhar

ABSTRACT

Beta-glucanases are crucial enzymes that hydrolyze beta-glucans, polysaccharides of D-glucose linked by beta-glycosidic bonds. This research focuses on the isolation, purification, and in-silico analysis of beta-glucanase producing Bacillus species. This enzyme has potential in applications such as biofuel production, food and feed industry, and bioremediation. The bacterial strain was sourced from soil samples. Beta-glucanase was purified from the Bacillus culture obtained from the soil using repeated streaking techniques. This research determines that the bacterial beta-glucanase exhibited optimal activity at pH 2, with an incubation period of 120 hours. The study revealed that for the extracellular and intracellular enzyme assay, beef extract and MnSO? were identified as the most effective sources of nitrogen and metal ions, respectively. Glucose was identified as the best carbon source, yielding the highest extracellular and intracellular enzyme activity. To determine the secondary and 3D structure of the enzyme, bioinformatics tools such as Phyre2 and Predict Protein were utilized. Bioinformatics analysis revealed 3D structure of the protein and depicted the presence of 24% alpha helix and 32% beta strands. This study concentrates on isolating and characterizing bacteria from soil samples that are capable of producing beta-glucanase.