Isolation of enriched-yielders and fed-batch production of alkaline protease from the newly isolated <i>Bacillus</i> sp. BHA

Abstract

An alkalophilc and thermophilic Bacillus sp. BHA that produced a thermostable alkaline protease was isolated from decaying protein substrates. The isolate was found to grow in pH range 7 - 11 with an optimum pH 9.0 and temperature up to 55 ℃ . The activity of alkaline protease of Bacillus sp. BHA (68.98 APU/ml) was found higher than the standard strains of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens MTCC 610 (8.98 APU/ml) and Bacillus subtilis MTCC 8349 (12.14 APU/ml, used in this study, and was comparable (68.98 APU/ml, equivalent to 30.38 APU/mg) to the activity of the commercially produced standard protease procured from Novo Nordisk, Denmark (30.35 APU/mg). Hence, the proteolytic activity produced by this isolate was further investigated in batch and fed-batch process. Sucrose was the best carbon source for the production of protease activity by that isolate. Different organic nitrogen sources (casein, peptone and beef extract) at 1% (w/v) with varying levels of sucrose (1% - 4% w/v) initially repress enzyme synthesis. The duration and extent of repression decreased with increased concentration of sucrose. Maximum protease activity was found in basal medium with 4% (w/v) sucrose and 1% (w/v) yeast extract. Yeast-extract was thought to be an inducer of enzyme synthesis. Further, the basal medium was unique with respect to the enzyme production, as protease production was growth associated with the peak enzyme production being detected at the time of maximum growth. Interestingly, a rise in 34.2% (104.86 APU/ml) of protease activity was detected at incubation tem perature of 50 ℃ and when culture filtrate was assayed at 60 ℃ , signifying a high temperature stability of the produced protease by this isolate. Additional studies on the enzyme characterization were resulted in recognition of highly significant properties of the activity towards casein at pH 9.0 and stability at high temperature with retention of 96% the enzyme activity at 60 ℃ . The parametric study under feed intervals had enabled improvement in the maximum protease activities attainable from batch cultures in ex cess of 21.78% and 26.32% via two feeding stra tegies. A small continual increase in enzyme activity (132.46 APU/ml during 24 h - 120 h) and enhancement in protease production in excess of 36.84% was observed by fed-batch process than the batch experiment.