An Easy Method for Screening and Detection of Laccase Activity

Abstract

© 2017 Bentham Open. Objective: An instrument-free assay was developed for simultaneous detection of laccase activity in a large number of samples as diverse as screening of laccase-producing microbial cultures or chromatographic fractions. Method: Dried paper discs previously impregnated with 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) were placed on a flat-bottom microplate (a simple way to avoid misidentification) and loaded with an aliquot from each sample. Results: Discs corresponding to samples containing laccase activity become green-bluish colored within first ten minutes of reaction, allowing direct detection through simple naked-eye inspection. Conclusion: As an example, this easy process was applied to the laccase purification in order to eliminate chromatographic fractions that did not contain laccase activity, thus reducing the number of spectrophotometric assays.