Identifying Uricase-Producing Arthrobacter and Bordetella Bacterial Strains and Comparing the Enzyme Activity

Uricase (urate oxidase) is a therapeutic enzyme that belongs to the class of oxidoreductases and catalyzes the oxidation of uric acid to allantoin, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen peroxide and also plays a vital role in the purine metabolic pathway. Nowadays, bacterial uricase enzyme has received special attention from researchers.

Poultry soils are great places for the growth of uricotelic bacteria due to having high sources of uric acid. Poultry soils were collected from Kerman city and bacterial strains were isolated. The decomposition of uric acid was performed by inoculating bacteria on a solid medium containing uric acid as the only source of carbon and nitrogen. The screening was performed by monitoring the appearance of clear zones around the colonies of bacteria indicating the decomposition of uric acid. Uricase activity was investigated by the Phosphotungstic acid method. The molecular identification of strains was performed using 16S rDNA gene sequence and drawing the phylogenetic tree.

In this study, two bacterial species capable of producing uricase enzyme were isolated from a poultry source and screened based on the size of the clear zone using a uric acid agar plate. Arthrobacter sp.KBUBand Bordetella sp.KMU3 strains were identified based on the 16S rDNA gene sequences. The production of uricase was performed during different incubation periods and the results showed that the maximum uricolytic activity of 25 and 15 U/mL was achieved by Arthrobacter sp.KBUBand Bordetella sp.KMU3, respectively.

 Discussion and conclusion:

The capability of both these strains to produce uricase was confirmed using solid and liquid media. Arthrobacter sp.KBUB has shown a high ability to produce uricase, which can be used as a therapeutic enzyme and biosensor construction to measure uric acid.