Lipases are hydrolytic enzymes responsible for the hydrolysis of triacylglycerol into glycerol and free fatty acids. The biodiversity of crude oil contaminated soil was explored for the isolation of novel potent lipase producing microorganisms. In this current study, microorganisms isolated from crude oil contaminated soils were screened for lipase activity and expression. Six fungal strains namely: Yeast, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Verticillus sp., Penicillum sp., and Microsporum audouini demonstrated lipase producing potentials and the best two: Verticillus sp. and Penicillum sp. were selected for enzyme production and characterization. The lipase enzyme was produced in broth medium. Optimization of selected biochemical parameters reveal that optimum temperature for lipase activity was 40 ºC, pH 7 with an incubation time of 168 h for lipase expressed by Verticillus sp. and 40 ºC, pH 8 with an incubation time of 144 h was established for lipase expressed by Penicillium sp. The kinetic parameters of the lipase enzyme revealed that the enzymes had low Km (0.19 and 0.30 respectively) for the selected substrate.

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