Study of efficiency of Keratinase production by Arthrobacter creatinolyticus KP015744 isolated from leather sample

Keratin is an insoluble structural protein having high mechanical stability and resistance to proteolytic degradation due to disulphide, hydrogen bonds and other cross linkages. Keratinase is used in removal of hair and feathers in leather and poultry industry, in agro industrial waste degradation and to enhance drug delivery. In the present study, the keratinase producing bacteria isolated from deteriorated leather sample using feather meal as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen. One of the efficient producers was identified by morphological and biochemical tests were found to be belonging to genus Arthrobacter. By analysis of 16srDNA sequencing showed that the isolated strain was Arthrobacter creatinolyticus and sequence was deposited GenBank with accessionnumberKP015744. The isolate was able to produce 30U/ml keratinase over a wide range of pH from 5 to 9 and from temperature 10-45°c within 72h. Magnesium ions stimulated Keratinase production while copper, cobalt and zinc inhibited the activity. The enzyme production was strongly inhibited by EDTA, DMSO but not by PMSF. The isolate also showed its ability to produce collagenase caseinase and gelatinase. Hence the present isolate having ability to produce diversity of enzymes can be used in leather waste treatment.