Research Article Expression and Characterization of Coprothermobacter proteolyticus Alkaline Serine Protease

Copyright © 2013 Tanveer Majeed et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A putative protease gene (aprE) from the thermophilic bacterium Coprothermobacter proteolyticus was cloned and expressed in Bacillus subtilis. The enzyme was determined to be a serine protease based on inhibition by PMSF. Biochemical characterization demonstrated that the enzyme had optimal activity under alkaline conditions (pH 8–10). In addition, the enzyme had an elevated optimum temperature (60∘C).Theproteasewas also stable in the presence ofmany surfactants andoxidant.Thus, theC. proteolyticus protease has potential applications in industries such as the detergent market. 1