ZnO Nanoparticles Induced Synthesis of Polysaccharides and Phosphatases by Aspergillus Fungi

Abstract

The effect of ZnO nanoparticles (spherical, 16–30 nm) on production of polysaccharides, phosphatases and phytase was studied on two fungi Aspergillus terreus CZR1 (JF 681300) and Aspergillus flavus CZR2 (JF 681301). The fungi were tested for the yield of polysaccharides as well as phosphatases (acid and alkaline) and phytase in presence of identical concentration of ZnO compound. The result suggested 8 to 9 folds improvement in extracellular polysaccharide secretion due to ZnO nanoparticle. The intracellular polysaccharide content also improved between 5 to 8 folds. ZnO nanoparticles also enhanced 51 to 108% acid phosphatase and 80 to 209% alkaline phosphatase activity. The phytase activity improved between 137 and 174%. In general, significant effect of ZnO nanoparticles was observed in production of acid phosphatase (4.9 to 14.3%), alkaline phosphatase (14.6 to 22.1%), phytase (25.0 to 144.7%), extracellular polysaccharides (104.7 to 837.3%) and intracellular polysaccharides (246.2 to 374.3%) as compared to bulk ZnO material of similar concentration. The results suggested that ZnO nanoparticles are very effective in synthesis of fungal polysaccharides and phosphatases compared to bulk ZnO.