Abstract
Amylase expression was present in callus of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. We studied the amylase activity in the callus
culture to check the effect of starch on enzyme expression. Starch addition exogenously into MS media, increases the
enzyme production. 0.5% of starch in the medium induced a higher amylase activity as compared to 1% of starch. This
suggests that the higher concentration of starch, down regulate the expression of amylase in the neem callus. Besides
amylase, protease and lipase were also detected in the suspension culture of Azadirachta indica. In addition, effect of
respective inducers (dextrin, casein, tween-80, CMC, gelatin and olive oil) on the hydrolytic enzyme production
capability of Azadirachta indica suspension culture was also studied. Dextrinase was produced by the culture, using 1%
inducer. The protease was also induced in a similar way as amylase. However, no effect of inducer was observed on
the lipase, this is because the MS media contain sucrose as its component which is preferable for cells to utilize than
lipid polymer. Therefore, the culture condition was manipulated to force cells to hydrolyse lipid polymer. This is the
first report of dextrinase from Azadirachta indica cell suspension culture and presenting an alternate way of producing
hydrolytic enzymes
