ABSTRACT:
Fifty-five organisms comprising 40 bacteria, eleven yeasts and four moulds were isolated from various habitats and tested for the production of the enzyme linamarase using the release of HCN and glucose from linamarin. Only seven organisms were shown to produce linamarase: the bacteria Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Alcaligenes faecalis, the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Rhodotorula minuta, and the moulds Aspergillus flavus, A. niger and Fusarium oxysporum. A preliminary screening method used the ability to break down the glucoside p-nitrophenyl–D glucoside (PNPG). Organisms breaking down PNPG also broke down linamarin and vice-versa. The highest linamarase producers among the yeasts and bacteria as determined by HCN liberation from cassava pulp were the yeasts Sacch. cerevisiae and R. minuta in about 80 and 96 hours, respectively. Since Saccharomyces sp. withstood the highest concentration of the cyanide ion it is suggested as the organism of preference among the isolates for cassava pulp detoxication. Storage of linamarase-producing organisms in refrigerated cassava pulp was found to be a suitable method of preserving and transporting them.
World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 05/1986; 2(2):327-338. DOI:10.1007/BF00933499