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An extracellular laccase (Lacc10) was discovered in submerged cultures of Pleurotus ostreatus var. florida bleaching s-carotene effectively without the addition of a mediator (650 mU/L, pH 4). Heterologous expression in P. pastoris confirmed the activity and structural analyses revealed a carotenoid-binding domain, which formed the substrate-binding pocket and is reported here for the first time. In order to increase activity, 106 basidiospore-derived monokaryons and crosses of compatible progenies were generated. These showed high intraspecific variability in growth rate and enzyme formation. Seventy-two homokaryons exhibited a higher activity-to-growth-rate-relation than the parental dikaryon, and one isolate produced a very high activity (1800 mU/L), while most of the dikaryotic hybrids showed lower activity. The analysis of the laccase gene of the monokaryons revealed two sequences differing in three amino acids, but the primary sequences gave no clue for the diversity of activity. The enzyme production in submerged cultures of monokaryons was stable over seven sub-cultivation cycles.

A β-carotene-degrading enzyme activity was observed in liquid cultures of the basidiomycete Ganoderma applanatum. Supplementing the cultures with β-carotene induced the bleaching activity. Purification via hydrophobic interaction, ion exchange and size exclusion chromatography followed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) resulted in a single protein band. LC-ion-trap-MS analyses and gene amplification identified two manganese peroxidase isoenzymes with 97.8 % identity on the amino acid level. These showed an estimated molecular mass of 48 kDa and an isoelectric point of 2.6. Properties not yet described for other manganese peroxidases were hydrogen-peroxide-independent catalysis and two maxima of the bleaching activity, a distinct one at pH 5 and a lower one at pH 8. During simulated washing studies, the applicability of the isoenzymes for the brightening of carotenoids under alkaline conditions was proven. The new enzymes may replace common bleaching agents to produce environmentally more compatible detergent formulations.