Fungi collected from Brazilian soil and decomposing plants were screened for pectinase production. R. microsporus
var. rhizopodiformis was the best producer and was selected to evaluate the pectic enzyme production under several
nutritional and environmental conditions. The pectinase production was studied at 40ºC, under 28 carbon sourcessupplemented
medium. The inducer effect of several agro-industrial residues such as sugar cane bagasse, wheat
flour and corncob on polygalacturonase (PG) activity was 4-, 3- and 2-fold higher than the control (pectin). In
glucose-medium, a constitutive pectin lyase (PL) activity was detected. The results demonstrated that R.
microsporus produced high levels of PG (57.7 U/mg) and PL (88.6 U/mg) in lemon peel-medium. PG had optimum
temperature at 65 ºC and was totally stable at 55 ºC for 90 min. Half-life at 70 ºC was 68 min. These results
suggested that the versatility of waste carbon sources utilization by R. microsporus, produce pectic enzymes, which
could be useful to reduce production costs and environmental impacts related to the waste disposal.
