초록
<P><B>Background</B></P><P>Tannase is an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of ester bonds in gallotannins such as tannic acid. In recent years, the interest on bacterial tannases has increased because of its wide applications. The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) plays an important role in food tannin biotransformation, it has the ability of hydrolyse tannins in ruminants intestine. The finding of tannin hydrolysis by LAB has sparked their use as tannase producer.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>The bacterial strains used in the present work were identified as <I>Bacillus subtilis</I> AM1 and <I>Lactobacillus plantarum</I> CIR1. The maximal tannase production levels were 1400 and 1239 U/L after 32 and 36 h of fermentation respectively, for <I>B. subtilis</I> AM1 and <I>L</I>. <I>plantarum</I> CIR1. Maximum gallic acid release was 24.16 g/L for <I>B. subtilis</I> AM1 and 23.73 g/L for <I>L. plantarum</I> CIR1. HPLC analysis showed the formation of another peaks in the retention time range of 9–14 min, which could be attributed to the formation of di or tri-galloyl glucose.</P><P><B>Conclusions</B></P><P>According to database, the strains were identified as <I>Bacillus subtilis</I> AM1 and <I>Lactobacillus plantarum</I> CIR1. In conclusion, both strains had the capability to produce good titres of extracellular tannase and release gallic acid.</P>