Investigation of Organic Solvents-Resistant Extracellular Alkaline Protease from Brevibacillus borstelensis AMN Isolated from Hot Spring of Iran

The Stability of protease in organic solvent media has been widely discussed for more than two decades. Proteases can catalyze synthetic reactions in organic media, by this way solvent stabilities of proteases are very important. In this study, we reported a bacterium isolated from hot spring of Geinarje, Iran producing an organic solvent stable protease. Protease producing bacteria were screened on skim milk agar and the formation of a clear zone around the bacterial colony was investigated. Proteolytic activity was assayed by a modified caseinolytic method using casein as a substrate. The best alkaline protease producing bacterium was selected and identified on the basis of 16S rDNA gene sequencing and morphological and biochemical characteristics. The effect of organic solvents, temperature, pH, and NaCl on proteolytic activity were examined. According to phylogenetic analysis, morphological and physiological tests, isolated, the bacterium was identified as a new strain of Brevibacillus borstelensis. This strain was able to produce an extracellular organic solvent-stable protease with 0.53U/ml enzyme activity. After 2 hour incubation at 30°C the protease of Brevibacillus borstelensis AMN was active in wide ranges of organic solvents, and its activity was enhanced in the presence of 25% (V/V) isopropanol. The biochemical properties of the enzyme revealed that the optimal pH and temperature for protease activity were 9.0 and 60°C, respectively. Our finding indicated that these robust properties of protease, like outstanding activity and stability in organic solvents and alkaline medium, might be applicable for various industrial biotechnologies.