Optimization of Nutrients and Culture Conditions for Alkaline Protease Production Using Two Endophytic Micrococci: and .

An endophytic species of was isolated from leaf (syn. ) and screened for protease production with five other species of . Data indicated that endophytic AE-6 MCC 2184 and DSM 21948 showed efficient protease production potential and secreted active protease at high salt (10%), temperature (40 °C) and in wide range of pH 8-10. Unlike . DSM 21948, protease production by . AE-6 MCC 2184 was stringently controlled by pH. Protease induction study using different group of peptides, peptide carbohydrates and peptide macronutrient combinations showed variable response with both the organisms. Result indicated that the amount of protease was not directly related to cell biomass but it depends on nature of inducible peptides. In this study we also developed a modified agar-well assay for semi-quantitative data from large number of replicates.