| Electronic Journal of Biotechnology
ISSN: 0717-3458 |
Vol. 8 No. 1, Issue of April 15, 2005 |
| © 2005 by Pontificia Universidad Católica
de Valparaíso -- Chile |
Received September
28, 2004 / Accepted January 13, 2005 |
Production of an extracellular keratinase
from Chryseobacterium sp. growing on raw feathers
Adriano Brandelli*
Laboratorio
de Bioquímica e Microbiologia Aplicada
Departamento de Ciência de Alimentos, ICTA
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Sul
91501-970 Porto Alegre,
Brasil
Tel: 551 3316 6249
Fax: 551 3316 7048
E-mail: abrand@ufrgs.br
Alessandro
Riffel
Laboratorio de Bioquímica e Microbiologia Aplicada
Departamento de Ciência de Alimentos, ICTA
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Sul
91501-970 Porto Alegre,
Brasil
Tel: 551 3316 6249
Fax: 551 3316 7048
E-mail: ariffel@esalq.usp.br
*Corresponding
author
Financial
support: This work was supported by CNPq and FAPERGS.
Keywords: bacteria,
enzyme, keratin, protease.
The strain Chryseobacterium
sp. kr6 shown to be useful for biotechnological purposes such as hydrolysis
of poultry feathers and de-hairing of bovine pelts. The effect of
temperature, initial pH and media composition on protease production
by this keratinolytic strain was studied. The enzyme was produced
between 25 and 37ºC, with maximum activity and
yield at 30ºC.
When protease production was tested in media with different initial
pH, maximum activity was observed when cultivation was carried out
at 30ºC and initial pH ranging from
6.0 to 8.0. Higher activity was observed when feathers or feather
meal were used as growth substrates, followed by soybean meal. The
addition of carbohydrates or surfactants to feather broth resulted
in decrease in keratinolytic activity.
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