Potential enzyme activity of thermophilic bacteria from hot spring in Egypt

Abstract

This study aims to isolate and identify thermophilic hydrolytic bacteria from hot spring in South Sinai, Egypt for several industrial applications. In this work, 29 bacterial isolates from hot spring in Egypt were isolated and screened for the production of three thermozymes (amylase, cellulase and protease) at different high temperatures. Fifteen isolates were amylase producer, twenty-one were cellulase producer and twelve isolates were protease producer at different high temperatures. Ten bacterial isolates (34.5%) produced the three extracellular enzymes. All bacterial isolates were identified phenotypically as Bacillus spp. This study concludes that hot springs in Egypt is a source for the isolation of thermophilic bacteria producing thermostable enzymes.