A novel endo-β-1,4-xylanase from Pediococcus acidilactici GC25; purification, characterization and application in clarification of fruit juices

A novel extracellular xylanase was purified and characterized from Pediococcus acidilactici GC25 (GenBank number: MF289522). The purification was 4.6-fold with a yield of 43.61% through acetone precipitation, Q-Sepharose, and CM-Sepharose ion change chromatography. The molecular weight of the enzyme was 48.15 kDa, and the optimum pH and temperature were 7.0 and 40 °C, respectively. The maximum activity was observed between 20 and 50 °C. Although it was active within a wide pH range (pH 2.0–9.0), it retained over 85% of its activity after 24 h incubation; and over 70% of its activity after 168 h incubation in neutral and alkaline pH. It was observed that the enzyme showed high stability with K+, Ba2+, Cd2+, Co2+, Sr2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Al3+, Zn2+, and Ni2+ ions. The Km and Vmax for the xylanase were 3.10 mg mL−1 and 4.66 U/mg protein, respectively. It was determined that treatment of different fruit juices with P. acidilactici GC25 xylanase improved the clarification. The highest increase in the reducing sugar amount and decrease in the turbidity was 24.47 ± 1.08 and 21.22 ± 0.58 for peach juice at 0.15 U/mL enzyme concentration. These results showed that the xylanase purified from P. acidilactici GC25 may have a wide potential in biotechnological processes of the food and baking industry.