Production of Protease from Soil Fungi by Submerged Fermentation

The demand of proteases is increasing regularly because of their numerous applications in the biotechnological industries. It promotes isolation and identification of potent protease producing fungi from soil samples. Therefore, the objective of the present investigation was to screen soil fungi in submerged fermentation (SmF) for detection of hyperproducer isolate and production of protease in SmF. Fungal strains from three diverse soil samples were isolated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates by serial dilution agar plate technique, purified by point inoculation and twelve isolates utilized for production of extracellular protease in SmF. Results were examined both in terms of protease activity and specific activity. Among all 12 fungal strains, isolate S2St1 (isolated from medicinal garden soil) exhibited maximum activity of protease (256.63 ± 3.18 U/ml/min) at 72 h of incubation. Isolate S2St1 was identified as potent producer of protease in SmF. Further this isolate can be used for production of large quantity of protease in SmF within very short time period of 3 days.