Separation, purification, and phylogenetic characterization of detergent-compatible protease produced by Penicillium species

Abstract

Background: Filamentous fungal forms are said to secrete multiple peptidases with portent detergent capabilities in addition to their usage in food, beverages, and pharmaceutical industries. Objective: The current study isolated and purified fungal isolates from clinical samples and studied their capability as caseinolytic and in removing blood stains from fabrics. Materials and Methods: The present work isolated nine isolates, which are protease-positive and out of them eight belong to Penicillium sp. From the IS2 region, amplification of the isolates concluded their match using Blastn as Penicillium citrinum in majority. Results: The enzyme extract (P18), which was found effective in removing blood stains with good caseinolytic activity, was found to belong to P. citrinum as from Blastn studies. In addition, these proteases extracted were highly compatible with commercially available detergents. P4 was found to remove blood stains from fabrics in less than 30 min (P0.02) when compared with other extracts (P1 and P4). Conclusion: The ability to secrete protease in promising amounts along with its potential usage as detergent makes these enzymes useful in industries, especially for the laundry industry.