Extracellular oxidases of Cerrena sp. complementarily functioning in artificial dye decolorization including laccase, manganese peroxidase, and novel versatile peroxidases

Extracellular ligninolytic oxidoreductases produced by Cerrena sp. strain Ra, a soil-isolated basidiomycete with high artificial dye-decolorizing activity, were purified and characterized. One thermostable laccase, one typical manganese peroxidase, and two versatile peroxidases (VPI and VPII) were found in the culture of this fungus. The different characteristics of each enzyme enable the strain express wide-range of oxidizing activity under various conditions. VPI decolorizing activity was observed toward various kinds of dye compounds, and the activity and specificity varied depending on the oxidizing mediators added to the reaction mixture. Optimized VPI/mediator-coupling decolorizing will be widely used for industrial wastewater treatment.