Isolation, Screening and Identification of Protease Producing Bacteria from Soil of Karak, Khyber Paktunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Microorganisms are important source of proteases which are employed in detergent, food, pharmaceutical, leather and photographic industries. Among microorganisms, bacteria have been widely explored globally for their protease production that leads to discovery of several novel proteases. The present research work was carried out to explore the indigenous protease producing soil bacterial flora of Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 60 bacteria were isolated from 16 soil samples collected from different sites in district Karak. The isolates were screened for protease production by using skimmed milk agar. Among all the isolates, 18 bacterial isolates were found protease producers with various degree of protease activity. These isolates were further identified through their morphological, microscopic and biochemical examination. It was concluded that soil of Karak is rich in protease producing bacteria that exhibit diversified proteolytic activities and biochemical features. Further optimization of protease activity and their structure elucidation may be performed which will be helpful to identify novel protease.