• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제23권7호
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• pp.1004-1014
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• 2013

Six nonpathogenic fungal strains isolated from alkaline soils of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina (Acremonium murorum, Aspergillus sidowii, Cladosporium cladosporoides, Neurospora tetrasperma, Purpureocillium lilacinum (formerly Paecilomyces lilacinus), and Westerdikella dispersa) were tested for their ability to produce keratinolytic enzymes. Strains were grown on feather meal agar as well as in solid-state and submerged cultures, using a basal mineral medium and "hair waste" as sole sources of carbon and nitrogen. All the tested fungi grew on feather meal agar, but only three of them were capable of hydrolyzing keratin, producing clear zones. Among these strains, P. lilacinum produced the highest proteolytic and keratinolytic activities, both in solid-state and submerged fermentations. The medium composition and culture conditions for the keratinases production by P. lilacinum were optimized. Addition of glucose (5 g/l) and yeast extract (2.23 g/l) to the basal hair medium increased keratinases production. The optimum temperature and initial pH for the enzyme production were $28^{\circ}C$ and 6.0, respectively. A beneficial effect was observed when the original concentration of four metal ions, present in the basal mineral medium, was reduced up to 1:10. The maximum yield of the enzyme was 15.96 $U_c/ml$ in the optimal hair medium; this value was about 6.5-fold higher than the yield in the basal hair medium. These results suggest that keratinases from P. lilacinum can be useful for biotechnological purposes such as biodegradation (or bioconversion) of hair waste, leading to a reduction of the environmental pollution caused by leather technology with the concomitant production of proteolytic enzymes and protein hydrolyzates.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.429-436
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• 2010

본 연구는 선행연구에서 얻은 keratinase 효소의 활성이 높은 균주 Bacillus subtilis SMMJ-2를 UV 조사에 의해 개량하여 mutant No. 2를 얻었으며, keratinase의 생산성 향상을 위한 최적 탄소원, 최적 질소원의 조건 하에서 본 효소를 대량생산하여 정제하고, 야생주와 변이주 간의 효소활성의 변화 및 정제된 효소 간의 효소화학적인 성질을 비교하였다. Mutant No. 2의 keratinase 생산을 위한 최적 탄소원과 질소원은 각각 glucose와 soybean meal로 나타나, 야생주의 경우와는 최적 질소원을 달리했으며, 효소활성에 있어서는 야생주보다 40% 정도 상승하였다. 변이주의 효소가 야생주의 효소보다 높은 배양온도에 대하여 더 안정적인 활성으로 생산되며, 효소 생산을 위한 최적 pH는 7.0으로, 비교적 효소생산이 가능한 pH 영역대은 6~9로 나타났다. Bacillus subtilis SMMJ-2와 mutant No. 2에서 생산된 keratinase는 DEAEsephacel 크로마토그래피법와 겔여과 크로마토그래피법으로 최종 정제되었다. 정제과정 중 DEAE-sephacel 크로마토그래피 상에서 나타나는 2개의 효소피크는 Bacillus subtilis SMMJ-2의 메인 효소피크의 위치와 mutant No. 2에서의 메인 효소피크의 위치가 전환되어 나타났다. SDS-PAGE 상에서의 각각의 효소 분자량은 B. subtilis SMMJ-2의 경우에 28 kDa, mutant No. 2의 경우에 42 kDa 로 추산되었다

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제40권4호
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• pp.303-309
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• 2012

Keratinases are of particular interest because of their action on insoluble keratins and generally on a broad range of protein substrates. Alkalophilic and neutrophilic actinomycete strains isolated from different soil samples, rich in keratinaceous substances were screened for keratinolytic activity. An alkalophilic isolate, TBG-S13A5, was found to possess good keratinolytic activity and was able to utilize feather as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. TBG-S13A5 exhibited an off-white aerial mass color with a rectus-flexibilis type of spore chain. The morphological, microscopical and biochemical characters were comparable with that of Streptomyces albidoflavus. Fatty acid methyl ester profiling (FAME) and 16S rDNA sequence analysis confirmed its identity as a strain of S. albidoflavus. Under submerged fermentation conditions, maximum protease production was recorded on the $5^{th}$ day of incubation at $30^{\circ}C$, using basal broth of pH 9.0 with 0.25% (w/v) white chicken feather. This strain could affect feather degradation when the initial pH was 8 and above and maximum protease production was recorded when the initial pH was around 10.5. The effectiveness of the crude enzyme in destaining and leather dehairing were also demonstrated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.1769-1774
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• 2001

Bacillus licheniformis strains L-25 and PWD-1 are two thermophilic feather-degrading bacteria. Despite isolated from different environmental conditions, they were both capable of breaking down chicken feathers and growing in a medium in which feather was the only source of carbon and nitrogen. A 1.46-kb keratinase gene (ker B) was isolated from strain L-25 by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using L-25 genomic DNA as templates. Sequencing results reveal that ker B shares great sequence identity with a previously published keratinase gene of B. licheniformis PWD-1 (ker A). Only two amino acids differences were found in the deduced amino acid sequence between the keratinases from L-25 and PWD-1. However several nucleotide changes were found upstream of the putative promoter region. Protease inhibition studies indicated that neutral protease activity accounted for approximate 25 to 30% of total extracellular proteolytic activity produced by strain L-25 in the feather medium. In contrast, no measurable neutral protease activity was produced by strain PWD-1 in the feather medium. When glucose (1%), a common catabolic repressor, was added into the feather medium, L-25 was still able to grow and produce keratinase. Strain PWD-1 produced no neutral protease activity and its growth was severely inhibited in the feather medium containing glucose. L-25 produced an enhanced level of keratinase in the feather medium in comparison with PWD-1.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.818-825
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• 2012

Keratinases are exciting keratin-degrading enzymes; however, there have been relatively few studies on their immobilization. A keratinolytic protease from Chryseobacterium sp. kr6 was purified and its partial sequence determined using mass spectrometry. No significant homology to other microbial peptides in the NCBI database was observed. Certain parameters for immobilization of the purified keratinase on chitosan beads were investigated. The production of the chitosan beads was optimized using factorial design and surface response techniques. The optimum chitosan bead production for protease immobilization was a 20 g/l chitosan solution in acetic acid [1.5% (v/v)], glutaraldehyde ranging from 34 g to 56 g/l, and an activation time between 6 and 10 h. Under these conditions, above 80% of the enzyme was immobilized on the support. The behavior of the keratinase loading on the chitosan beads surface was well described using the Langmuir model. The maximum capacity of the support ($q_m$) and dissociation constant ($K_d$) were estimated as 58.8 U/g and 0.245 U/ml, respectively. The thermal stability of the immobilized enzyme was also improved around 2-fold, when compared with that of the free enzyme, after 30 min at $65^{\circ}C$. In addition, the activity of the immobilized enzyme remained at 63.4% after it was reused five times. Thus, the immobilized enzyme exhibited an improved thermal stability and remained active after several uses.