Kocuria Rosea as a New Feather Degrading Bacteria

Abstract

A strain of Kocuria rosea with keratinolytic activity was isolated. This Gram-positive coccus-shaped bacterium was able to degrade whole feathers in 72 h at 40° C. In batch culture, the optimum temperature for feather degradation, bacterial growth and protease secretion was 40° C. Under these conditions, biomass and caseinolytic activity reached 3.2 g/l and 0.15 U/ml, respectively, after 36 h incubation. Extracellular protease secretion was associated with the exponential growth phase. Feather degradation reached 51 % in 72 h with a yield on biomass of 0.32 g/g. Enzymatic assay by polyacrylamide-gelatine gels showed two bands with alkaline proteolytic activities in the fermentation juice after 72 h of culture.