OPTIMIZATION STUDIES OF PROTEASE PRODUCTION BY BACILLUS AMYLOLIQUEFACIENS MD81 AND ITS PHYSICAL MD81M1 AND CHEMICAL MUTANTS MD81C1

摘要

Proteases; a unique class of enzymes; of commercial importance. With the increasing demand for enzymes and the need for such economically useful enzymes from various bacterial sources; a study was carried out. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens MD81 (NCBI Accession no KX832639), a soil isolate was grown in casein agar and later shake flask method was used for protease production which initially produced 128 U/ mL. There was a 9 fold increase, i.e. 1140 U/mL in protease production with this strain after optimization studies. The isolate was subjected to two tier mutagenesis i.e. physical mutagen (UV irradiation) and chemical mutagen (NaN02). The physical and chemical mutants were screened and an optimization study was performed. It was observed that there was an increase of 6 fold shown with the chemical mutant MD81C1 i.e. 740 U/mL, and a 6 fold rise with the physical mutant MD81M1, i.e. 720 U/mL, indicating that the protease production could be enhanced by using mutants. The main aim of this study is to develop improved varieties, which can enhance the protease production.