Screening, Partial Purification and Characterization of Keratinase from Newly Isolated Marine Fungi

A feather degrading fungi was newly isolated from marine sponges collected from Kulasekarapattinam, Tuticori district, Tamil Nadu using agar mineral medium containing soluble keratin as a substrate and it was identified by its morphological features as Scopulariopsis brevicaulis. The selected growth medium contained feather meal as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen at pH 7.5 and temperature at 28±2 0 C. Purification was carried through ammonium sulfate precipitation and chromatography via Sephadex G- 100 column using with soluble keratin as a substrate, 10.0-fold purification with a yield of 22.8% was obtained. The partially purified keratinase has a molecular mass of 28±0.5 kDa, optimum pH in the neutral region 7 to 7.5 and optimum temperature of 50 0 C.The keratinases produced by the fungi could be useful in decomposition of keratin-wastes and could find applications in leather, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries as well.