Characterisation of beta glucosidase from wood rotting fungi to facilitate efficient plant biomass biodegradation for biofuel production.

beta-glucosidases catalyzes hydrolysis of cellobiose and cellodextrins releasing glucose as main product which is used in food, pharmaceutical and biofuel industries, it is an important component of the cellulase complex, it not only hydrolyzes cellobiose and short-chain cello oligosaccharides to glucose, also removes inhibitory effect of cellobiose on ?-1, 4-endoglucanase and exoglucanase, thereby increasing overall rate of cellulose biodegradation. Rotten wood samples were collected for isolation and identification of different fungi. 5 fungal isolates of the 20, showed higher cellulose degrading ability which were identified as Pisolithusspp., Phanerochaetespp., Syncephalastrumspp., Aspergillusspp. and Nigrosporaspp. Phanerochaete spp. showed highest ability to degrade cellulose with least cellulose concentration of 22µg/ml and 10µg/ml, in biomass production. Glucose urea media supported more fungal growth than Potato dextrose broth. Nigrosporaspp. showed 560µg/ml of protein content. The ?-glucosidase activity (pNPG and salicin as substrates) results indicated that Pisolithus spp. exhibited highest enzyme activity i.e., 237 and 300 µg/ml/min respectively and showed highest alcohol production of 290µl/gm of fungal mat. Therefore, if the fungi are appropriately screened and purified for ?-glucosidase, they can be potentially improved for bio-conversion of cellulose to glucose and facilitate efficient plant biomass biodegradation for biofuel production.