Background :
Proteases are the most important industrial enzymes with diverse applications in. Bacteria, such as
Bacillus, commonly used to produce protease for industrial purposes. Proteases are commercially exploited in large-scale,
especially in pharmaceutical, food, leather and detergent industries.
Objective:
The aim of this study was screening and optimization of protease enzyme activity produced by local bacteria.
Method:
In this research, the effect of incubation time, temperature and initial pH were investigated to improve the
extracellular protease enzyme activity by two bacteria, named Bacillus subtilis strain DAR and Alkalihalobacillus
hwajinpoensis strain 3NB. These two isolates have already been isolated and registered from Iran.
Results:
The results indicated that the optimum incubation time for protease activity in B. subtilis strain DAR is 36 h in
contrast to 40 h in Alkalihalobacillus hwajinpoensis strain 3NB. The optimum incubation temperatures for enzyme activity
for B. subtilis and Alkalihalobacillus hwajinpoensis is 50°C and 40°C, respectively. Optimum pH conditions for protease
activity for both of the bacteria is 8.
Conclusion:
In current study, we investigated the optimum incubation time, pH and temperature for best protease activity.
Further studies are recommended to improve protease activity through changing enzyme substrates.