Increasing laccase activity of white rot fungi by mutagenesis and treating papermaking wastewater

Abstract

The aim of the work was to apply ultraviolet mutagenesis on white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus for enhancement of laccase production. The mutant strain UV-6 with higher laccase activity was obtained by screening and the highest laccase activity was 135U/L, which was 77% higher than that of the wild strain. The papermaking wastewater was treated by mutant strain UV-6 and the COD removal rate reached 85%, which was 21% above the degradation rate (70%) by the wild strains. It was proved that ultraviolet mutagenesis is the effective method to improve laccase activity of Pleurotus ostreatus, and the results of our work are significant for the potential application of laccase.