Isolation and characterization of feather degrading enzymes from Bacillus megaterium SN1 isolated from Ghazipur poultry waste site

• Published in: Applied biochemistry and microbiology Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 175 - 181
• Main Authors: Agrahari, S, Wadhwa, N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer-Verlag 01.03.2012; SP MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: agarose; Ammonium; Ammonium sulfate; Animal production; Animal wastes; Bacillus megaterium; barium; Biochemistry; Biodegradation; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chromatography; Clotting; Dairy industry; Enzymes; Feathers; Feeds; Ion exchange; ion exchange chromatography; keratinase; Keratinocytes; Life Sciences; Media (isolation); Medical Microbiology; mercury; Microbiology; Microorganisms; Milk; milk clotting; Molecular weight; polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; Poultry; Precipitation; protein concentrates; Protein folding; Proteinase; proteinases; Soil; Sulfates; Waste materials; Wastes; Rennet; Milk Clotting; Apply Biochemistry; Ammonium Sulphate Fraction; Chicken Feather
• ISSN: 0003-6838; 1608-3024
• DOI: 10.1134/S0003683812020020

The SN1 strain of Bacillus megaterium, isolated from soil of Ghazipur poultry waste site (India) produced extracellular caseinolytic and keratinolytic enzymes in basal media at 30°C, 160 rpm in the presence of 10% feather. Feathers were completely degraded after 72 h of incubation. The caesinolytic enzyme was separated from the basal media following ammonium sulphate precipitation and ion exchange chromatography. We report 29.3-fold purification of protease after Q Sepharose chromatography. The molecular weight of this enzyme was estimated to be 30 kDa as shown by SDS-PAGE and zymography studies. Protease activity increased by 2-fold in presence of 10 mM Mn2+ whereas Ba2+ and Hg2+ inhibited it. Ratio of milk clotting activity to caseinolytic activity was found to be 520.8 for the 30–60% ammonium sulphate fraction in presence of Mn2+ ion suggesting potential application in dairy industry. Keratinase was purified to 655.64 fold with specific activity of 544.7 U/mg protein and 12.4% recovery. We adopted the strategy of isolating the keratinolytic and caesinolytic producing microorganism by its selective growing in enriched media and found that feather protein can be metabolized for production of animal feed protein concentrates.