Isolation and Purification of Alkaline Serine Protease From the Mid Gut Microbes of Bombyx Mori Larva

Abstract

Commercial protease enzymes are usually produced from bacteria due to their high rate of production and simple downstream processing. Alkaline proteases have the ability to work efficiently in extreme industrial conditions and environmental friendly. In the recent years as an alternative to chemicals, researchers are trying to find suitable protease enzymes. Hence the aim of this study was to isolation and purification the alkaline serine protease from the midgut microbes of Bombyx mori larva. Results revealed the presence of Gram positive short tubular bacteria with endospores in the midgut of Bombyx mori larva, which can be an excellent source of alkaline protease. Purification of alkaline protease was done using precipitation of ammonium sulphate, dialysis, column chromatography with DEAE-cellulose column and gel filtration. From the SDS-PAGE study the molecular weight of the purified protease was found to be around 62 kDa