P103: Alkaline protease production by novel Bacillus species

Proteases are enzymes that occur naturally in all organisms. They are involved in a large number of physiological reactions, and play pivotal regulatory roles in conception, birth, digestion, growth, maturation, aging, and death. Proteases regulate most physiological processes by controlling the activation, synthesis and turnover of proteins. We investigated production of protease enzymes in five soil isolates of novel Bacillus species (P3, P5, P6, P7 and P8). The proteolytic activity was observed when the bacteria were grown in minimal medium containing sucrose, K₂HPO₄, MgSO₄, KCl₂ and FeSO₄. The sizes of the initial inocula used were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10% of the final volume in minimal medium. Protease activity was analyzed after incubation periods of 24, 48 and 72 h, with the final volumes of the culture at 50 and 100 mL. We showed that the 1% inoculum size resulted in a higher yield of enzyme for all bacteria. The P6 isolate produced a much higher yield when a 5% inoculum size was used. Among the five bacteria investigated, P6 was the best producer of protease enzyme. Analysis of differences in culture volume (50 and 100 mL) revealed that a 50 mL volume resulted in higher yield with maximum productivity of 13745 U/mL for a 5% inoculum size with P6. Different carbon, nitrogen and other mineral sources could be optimized for greater protease production.