Production of extracellular lipase by the phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium solani FS1

a brazilian strain of fusarium solani was tested for extracellular lipase production in peptone-olive oil medium. the fungus produced 10,500 u.l-1 of lipase after 72 hours of cultivation at 25oc in shake-flask at 120 rpm in a medium containing 3% (w/v) peptone plus 0.5% (v/v) olive oil. glucose (1% w/v) was found to inhibit the inductive effect of olive oil. peptone concentrations below 3% (w/v) resulted in a reduced lipase production while increased olive oil concentration (above 0.5%) did not further stimulate lipase production. the optimum lipase activity was achieved at ph 8.6 and 30oc and a good enzyme stability (80% activity retention) was observed at ph ranging from 7.6 to 8.6, and the activity rapidly dropped at temperatures above 50oc. lipase activity was stimulated by the addition of n-hexane to the culture medium supernatants, in contrast to incubation with water-soluble solvents.