Enhancing the Production of Therapeutic Enzyme Arginase from Lactobacillus acidophilus Using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

Arginase plays an imperative role in the cell growth and proliferation of healthy cells under normal physiological conditions. Recently arginase has gained the sight of many researchers as it has emerged as a potential candidate for auxotrophic cancer treatment. Through one variable at a time approach (OVAT), 4fold enhanced arginase production was observed compared to unoptimized cultural conditions. The highest arginase production (2 U/mL) was achieved when a 1% 10 h old inoculum was used to carry out submerged fermentation for 24 h. Further additional supplementation of media with arginine (15 mM), sucrose (1%), yeast extract (0.3%) and pH (6) also resulted in improved arginase production. Further optimization of cultural conditions by response surface methodology (3.3 U/mL) resulted in 6.6-fold improved arginase yield compared to unoptimized physiochemical cultural conditions. The present work is the first report regarding optimization of arginase production by Lactobacillus acidophilus by OVAT and the statistical approach using central composite design under submerged conditions. This study can further be extended to explore the anti-carcinoma properties of arginase produced by Lactobacillus, followed by its scaling up.