Safe production of Aspergillus terreus xylanase from Ricinus communis: gene identification, molecular docking, characterization, production of xylooligosaccharides, and its biological activities

BACKGROUND: The production of industrial enzymes such as xylanase using sufficient cost-effective substrates from potent microorganisms is considered economically feasible. Studies have reported castor cake (Ricinus communis) as the most potent and inexpensive alternative carbon source for production of xylanase C by using Aspergillus terreus (A. terreus). RESULTS: A. terreus strain RGS Eg-NRC, a local isolate from agro-wastes, was first identified by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer region of a nuclear DNA encoding gene cluster deposited in GenBank (accession number MW282328). Before optimization of xylanase production, A. terreus produced 20.23 U/g of xylanase after 7 days using castor cake as a substrate in a solid-state fermentation (SSF) system that was employed to achieve ricin detoxification and stimulate xylanase production. Physicochemical parameters for the production of xylanase were optimized by using a one-variable-at-a-time approach and two statistical methods (two-level Plackett–Burman design and central composite design, CCD). The maximum xylanase yield after optimization was increased by 12.1-fold (245 U/g). A 60–70% saturation of ammonium sulfate resulted in partially purified xylanase with a specific activity of 3.9 IU/mg protein. At 60 °C and pH 6, the partially purified xylanase had the highest activity, and the activation energy (Ea) was 23.919 kJmol. Subsequently, antioxidant capacity and cytotoxicity tests in normal Ehrlich ascites carcinoma human cells demonstrated xylooligosaccharides produced by the xylanase degradation of xylan as a potent antioxidant and moderate antitumor agent. Further investigations with sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis then determined the molecular weight of partially purified xylanase C to be 36 kDa. Based on the conserved regions, observations revealed that xylanase C belonged to the glycosyl hydrolase family 10. Next, the xylanase-encoding gene (xynC), which has an open reading frame of 981 bp and encodes a protein with 326 amino acids, was isolated, sequenced, and submitted to the NCBI GenBank database (accession number LC595779.1). Molecular docking analysis finally revealed that Glu156, Glu262, and Lys75 residues were involved in the substrate-binding and protein-ligand interaction site of modeled xylanase, with a binding affinity of −8.7 kcal. mol(−1.) CONCLUSION: The high production of safe and efficient xylanase could be achieved using economical materials such as Ricinus communis.