Amit Verma

Alkaline protease from Thermoactinomyces sp. RS1 mitigates industrial pollution

Proteases have found a wide application in the several industrial processes, such as laundry detergents, protein recovery or solubilization, prion degradation, meat tenderizations, and in bating of hides and skins in leather industries. But the main hurdle in industrial application of proteases is their economical production on a large scale. The present investigation aimed to exploit the locally available inexpensive agricultural and household wastes for alkaline protease production using Thermoactinomyces sp. RS1 via solid-state fermentation (SSF) technique. The alkaline enzyme is potentially useful as an additive in commercial detergents to mitigate pollution load due to extensive use of caustic soda-based detergents. Thermoactinomyces sp. RS1 showed good protease production under SSF conditions of 55xa0°C, pHxa09, and 50xa0% moisture content with potato peels as solid substrate. The presented findings revealed that crude alkaline protease produced by Thermoactinomyces sp. RS1 via SSF is of potential application in silver recovery from used X-ray films.

Multitrait plant growth promoting (PGP) rhizobacterial isolates from Brassica juncea rhizosphere : Keratin degradation and growth promotion.

Plant growth promoting (PGP) rhizobacteria, a beneficial microbe colonizing plant roots, enhanced crop productivity and offers an attractive way to replace chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and supplements. The keratinous waste which comprises feathers, hairs, nails, skin and wool creates problem of solid waste management due to presence of highly recalcitrant keratin. The multi traits rhizobacteria effective to remove both keratine from the environment by producing keratinase enzyme and to eradicate the chemical fertilizer by providing different PGP activity is novel achievement. In the present study, the effective PM2 strain of PGPR was isolated from rhizospheric soil of mustard (Brassica juncea) field, Pantnagar and they were identified on the basis of different biochemical tests as belonging to Bacillus genera. Different plant growth promoting activity, feather degradation and keratinolytic activity was performed and found very effective toward all the parameters. Furthermore, the efficient strain PM2 was identified on the basis of 16s rRNA sequencing and confirmed as Bacillus cereus. The strain PM2 might be used efficiently for keratinous waste management and PGP activity. Therefore, the present study suggests that Bacillus cereus have multi traits activity which extremely useful for different PGP activity and biotechnological process involving keratin hydrolysis, feather biodegradation or in the leather industry.

Production of Thermostable Organic Solvent Tolerant Keratinolytic Protease from Thermoactinomyces sp. RM4: IAA Production and Plant Growth Promotion.

There are several reports about the optimization of protease production, but only few have optimized the production of organic solvent tolerant keratinolytic proteases that show remarkable exploitation in the development of the non-polluting processes in biotechnological industries. The present study was carried with aim to optimize the production of a thermostable organic solvent tolerant keratinolytic protease Thermoactinomyces sp. RM4 utilizing chicken feathers. Thermoactinomyces sp. RM4 isolated from the soil sample collected from a rice mill wasteyard site near Kashipur, Uttrakhand was identified on the basis of 16S rDNA analysis. The production of organic solvent tolerant keratinolytic protease enzyme by Thermoactinomyces sp. RM4 was optimized by varying physical culture conditions such as pH (10.0), temperature (60°C), inoculum percentage (2%), feather concentration (2%) and agitation rate (2 g) for feather degradation. The result showed that Thermoactinomyces sp. RM4 potentially produces extra-cellular thermostable organic solvent tolerant keratinolytic protease in the culture medium. Further, the feather hydrolysate from keratinase production media showed plant growth promoting activity by producing indole-3-acetic acid itself. The present findings suggest that keratinolytic protease from Thermoactinomyces sp. RM4 offers enormous industrial applications due to its organic solvent tolerant property in peptide synthesis, practical role in feather degradation and potential function in plant growth promoting activity, which might be a superior candidate to keep ecosystem healthy and functional.

Guttation fluid as a physiological marker for selection of nitrogen efficient rice ( Oryza sativa L.) genotypes

A field experiment was conducted during the rainy season of 2008 and 2009 to use guttation fluid as a physiological marker for the screening of more nitrogen efficient rice genotypes on the basis of relationship between Guttation Fluid (GF) oozed by leaf tip and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), grain yield (GY) and biological yield (BY) amongst five rice (KRH-2- hybrid, Kasturi- aromatic, Krishna Hamsa, Tulsi and Vasumati- high yielding) genotypes grown at four nitrogen levels (0, 50, 100 and 200 kg ha -1 ) in alluvial soil of Pantnagar (Uttarakhand), India. The nitrogen fertilizer (urea) was sprouted in the field. For this experiment, the field was made to keep with 5 cm standing water throughout active tillering and reproductive stage. Guttation fluid (GF) was collected during flowering stage whilst other traits after harvesting of the crops. The utmost and lowest GF was achieved by genotype KRH-2 and Kasturi respectably. All the rice genotypes showed the positive correlation between GF and NUE, GY, BY at different nitrogen levels vice-versa. The KRH-2 illustrated better response to secretion of guttation fluid and other traits. The experiment concluded that the amount of GF is directly associated with application of fertilizer as well as NUE, GY and BY. Further studies are good opportunities for rice researcher to improve rice yield through this way and mapping the genes controlling this trait and creating rice plant with increase guttation fluid at different nitrogen levels for selection of high nitrogen efficient rice genotypes. Key words: Biological yield, guttation fluid, nitrogen use efficiency, grain yield, rice genotypes.