Abstract
The study was aimed at increasing the production of polygalacturonase (PG) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by the process of mutation. A high PG-secreting strain of S. crerevisiae was exposed to different doses of diethyl sulfate (DES) and surviving colonies were screened for PG activity by plate assay method. Survival rate and mutation frequency were recorded under different treatments. Many selections obtained in the study showed PG activity in excess of the starting strain and the wild type reference strain. PCR analysis of the mutants revealed unique markers in some of the selections which corroborated well with their respective PG activity. The study augments the relevance of mutagenesis for strain improvement in fungi for production of useful industrial enzymes.