Purification and characterization of alkaline protease from Lysinibacillus fusiformis

A novel alkaline protease producing bacterium was isolated from the gut of an estuarine fish Etroplus suratensis. The strain was identified by sequencing the fragment of their bacterial 16s rRNA and its homology was 97% closest to the Lysinibacillus fusiformis. An extracellular protease from this organism was purified by acetone precipitation, ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography methods and the specific activity of the purified enzyme was found to be 20.39 U/mg, 169.46U/mg and 352.0U/mg respectively. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was determined to be 29kDa through SDS/PAGE analysis. The enzyme showed that the maximum at pH 9.0 and temperature at 40ºC. The purified enzyme remains active in the presence of various metal ions and it was strongly stimulated by the addition of Ca2+. Among the tested surfactants, the optimum activity was observed in SDS when compared to the other tested surfactants.