Kocuria Rosea as a New Feather Degrading Bacteria

Abstract

AbstractA strain of Kocuria rosea with keratinolytic activity was isolated. This Gram-positive coccus-shaped bacterium was able to degrade whole feathers in 72 h at 40°C. In batch culture, the optimum temperature for feather degradation, bacterial growth and protease secretion was 40°C. Under these conditions, biomass and caseinolytic activity reached 3.2 g/l and 0.15 U/ml, respectively, after 36 h incubation. Extracellular protease secretion was associated with the exponential growth phase. Feather degradation reached 51 % in 72 h with a yield on biomass of 0.32 g/g. Enzymatic assay by polyacrylamide-gelatine gels showed two bands with alkaline proteolytic activities in the fermentation juice after 72 h of culture.KeywordsBacillus LicheniformisCarotenoid PigmentKeratinolytic ActivityFeather MealCaseinolytic ActivityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.