Culture of Aspergillus on wheat bran and enzyme experiments – analysis of produced a - amylases -
Tomoko kaga, Takshi kawaguchi and Motoo arai
20th Biennial Conference of the ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR BIOLOGY EDUCATION “Roles of Modern Technologies in Biology Education”. Chiang Mai University. Chiang Mai, Thailand. 27-30 December 2004. Page 27.
2004
บทคัดย่อ
Culture of Aspergillus on wheat bran and enzyme experiments – analysis of produced a - amylases -
Three species of Aspergillus (Aspergillus oryzae, A.niger and A.sojae) were cultivated on the wheat bran and a-amylases were extracted from the culture. The enzymes were precipitated with ethyl alcohol and analyzed by zymography on native-PAGE. The a-amylase activity bands were detected clearly on the gel by an iodine-starch reaction. The enzymes were immobilized in a calcium alginate gel sheet, and the effects of temperature on its starch-liquefying activity with iodine-starch reagent were studied. The methods of cultivation on the wheat bran and precipitation of enzymes with ethyl alcohol do not require any expensive tool. It is important for students to cultivate microbes, prepare some enzymes and analyze their enzymatic characteristics by themselves. Through these experiments, students increase their interest in experimenting on enzymes and learning the relationship between microbes and human life. So, a series of such experiments on enzymes are suitable as a teaching especially for inquiry and problem-solving activities in high school biology.