Research Article Open Access Bioprocessing & Biotechniques Velu, et al. J Bioproces Biotechniq 2011, 1:4 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-9821.1000109 Volume 1 • Issue 4 • 1000109 J Bioproces Biotechniq ISSN:2155-9821 JBPBT, an open access journal Keywords: Dye degradation; Pleurotus ostreatus;Agricultural wastes; Laccase; Molecular docking Introduction Nearly ten thousand types of synthetic dyes are widely used in the textile, paper, printing and leather tanning industries, corresponding to 8 x10 5 tonnes per year [1]. he chemical classes of synthetic dyes mostly used in industrial processes are azo, anthraquinone, sulfur, indigoid, triphenylmethyl (trityl) and phthalocyanine derivatives, although other types have many applications such as triazyne[2].Besides the color ef- fect, the majority of these compounds are toxic, carcinogenic and high- ly persistent in the environment. Conventional biological treatment of wastewater is not efective for degradation of dyes, and so a number of chemical and physical techniques have been used to remove them, including adsorption to inorganic or organic matrices, decolorization by photo catalysis and oxidation [3]. However, some ligninolytic microorganisms are capable of degrad- ing a wide variety of pollutants resembling lignin or its derivative, and are an attractive option due to low cost, speciicity and the possibility of total mineralization of these compounds [4]. Basidiomycete’s fungi are the most eicient lignin-degrading organisms that produce mainly laccase (EC 1.10.3.2), lignin peroxidase (EC 1.11.10.14) and manganese peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.13). Laccases are copper-containing oxidases biocatalyzes the oxidation of electron-rich natural and synthetic or- ganic substrates, in a non-speciic manner and degrade them into non- toxic molecular species without forming any recalcitrant metabolites. So only laccase are been used for bioremediation process due to their ability to degrade azo, heterocyclic, reactive and polymeric dyes [5]. A number of oxidative enzymes from bacteria, fungi and plants have been reported to play an important role in numerous waste treat- ment applications [6], Laccase is one of these oxidative enzymes, which appears to have a great potential [7] and it alone has a limited efect on bioremediation due to its speciicity for phenolic subunits in lignin. Value added bioproducts are at receiving end with greater demand in the global market. Potentially high titres of enzyme products can be produced by solid substrate fermentation [8]. Low cost alternative like agro-wastes are bio-prospected for enhanced enzyme production. Solid-state fermentation (SSF) is generally deined as a culture for the production of ligninolytic enzymes because it mimics the natural envi- ronment of the white rot fungi [9,10]. he inductive capability of rice bran to laccase production may be related with its phenolic compounds such as ferulic acid, vanillic acid which were reported to be an inducer for laccase production by white rot fungi [11,12]. Ferulic acid is found approximately 0.1% (w/v) and easily prepared in large quantity from rice bran [13]. Wheat bran provides a conducive, natural habitat for high secretion of lingo-cellulolytic enzymes without incorporation any initial amount of carbon and nitrogen supplements, thereby reduc- ing the process economics. Natural phenolic mediators such as ferulic acid, coumaric acid and syringic acid are present as abundant source in wheat bran, which stimulates in enhanced laccase enzyme production in white rot fungi [14]. Biological processes are eicient at low contaminant concentra- tions, can be sensitive to shock loads, require long hydraulic retention times and form large amounts of solid residues [15]. Some of these disadvantages can be overcome in an enzyme-based reactor, since en- zymes are able to operate over a broad concentration range [16,17]. he potential advantages of this enzymatic treatment, as compared to *Corresponding author: Chinnathambi Velu, Research Associate, ARMATS BIOTEK Research Institute, Kottur, Chennai, India-600085, E-mail: chinna.velu1@ gmail.com Received July 29, 2011; Accepted November 19, 2011; Published November 21, 2011 Citation: Velu C, Veeramani E, Suntharam S, Kalimuthu K (2011) Insilico Screening and Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of Textile Dye Decolourization by Crude Laccase Immobilised Alginate Encapsulated Beads from Pleurotus Ostreatus. J Bioprocess Biotechniq 1:109 doi: 10.4172/2155-9821.1000109 Copyright: © 2011 Velu C, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract The necessity to safeguard the environment has increased the potential of enzyme usage in textile processing to ensure eco-friendly production. Laccase enzyme formulation has been used in textile processing such as bio- bleaching, dyeing, rove scouring, inishing, neps removal, printing, wash-off treatment, dye synthesis and efluent treatment. However, a high cost associated with biocatalyst production is still a hindrance to their use. Pleurotus ostreatus is a white-rot fungus that produces a ligninolytic enzyme complex rich in several laccase iso-enzymes. The main objective of this study is optimize inluence of pH and stability of divalent metal ion-immobilzed crude laccase enzyme towards decolourization of prototype textile dyes such as Reactive red 80 (Red F3B) and Reactive blue 21(T Blue G). Wheat bran is used as a lead candidature for production of lignolytic enzyme using Pleurotus osteratus by solid state fermentation. Two divalent metal ions such as Zn2 + and Ca2 + were selected to study the inluence of metal ions towards the dye decolourization. Results revealed that Ca2 + ion was better compared to Zn2 + ion towards enzyme immobilization and its inluence on dye decolourization in the optimal pH 5.5. Finally, interactions between laccase and dyes were studied exclusively using Insilco structure based molecular docking methods. Insilico Screening and Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of Textile Dye Decolourization by Crude Laccase Immobilised Alginate Encapsulated Beads from Pleurotus Ostreatus Chinnathambi Velu 1 *, Ezhilarasan Veeramani 1 , Sridhar Suntharam 2 , Kasinathan Kalimuthu 1 1 Research Associate, ARMATS BIOTEK Research Institute, Kottur, Chennai, India-600085 2 Assistant Professor, Jeppiaar Engineering College, Jeppiaar nagar, Chennai, India-600119