PRODUCTION OF PROTEASE BY ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS IN SOLID STATE FERMENTATION.  A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON BIOCHEMISTRY

PRODUCTION OF PROTEASE BY ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS IN SOLID STATE FERMENTATION.  A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON BIOCHEMISTRY

ABSTRACT

The study for the production of protease from Aspergillus flavus using wheat bran as substrate under Solid State Fermentation was conducted in University of Abuja, Department of Microbiology. Aspergillus flavus was isolated from spoilt bread and was identified on the basis of the morphological assessment such as macroscopic and microscopy. Among the characteristics used includes: colonial characteristics such surface appearance, texture and colour of the colonies. The protease activity increased with increase in the fermentation periods. The quantities of the protease enzyme produced by the Aspergillus flavus in the basal medium were measured using UV-Spectrophotometer and the result is shown in Table 5. The protease activity was found to be higher at day 7 than day 5 and 3 with 4.51±10.06 proteaase Unit/mL, 8.63±0.12 U/mL and 18.93±1.20 AU/mL respectively. the extracellular protease produced by Aspergillus flavus isolated from spoilt bread in Gwagwalada were not significantly different at P= 0.05 level of significance. The study demonstrated that Aspergillus flavus was able to produce extracellular protease enzymes important in the decomposition of protein materials.

                                      CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                                                    INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background of the study

Protease constitutes a large and complex group of enzymes that plays an  important nutritional and  regulatory  role in nature. Proteases are (physiologically) necessary for  living organisms; they are ubiquitous and found in a wide diversity of sources. Protease is the most important industrial enzyme of interest accounting for about 60% of the total enzyme market in the world  and  account  for approximately 40% of  the total worldwide enzyme sale (Godfrey and West, 1996; Chouyyok et al., 2005). They are generally used in detergents (Barindra et al., 2006), food industries, leather, meat processing, cheese making, silver recovery from photographic film, production of digestive and certain medical treatments of inflammation and virulent wounds (Rao et al., 1998; Paranthaman et al., 2009). They also have medical and pharmaceutical applications.

Microbial  proteases  are  degradative  enzymes  which catalyze the total hydrolysis of proteins (Raju et al., 1994; Haq et al., 2006). The molecular weight of proteases ranges from 18 – 90 kDa  (Sidney and Lester, 1972). These enzymes are found in a wide diversity of sources such as plants, animals and microorganisms but they are mainly produced by bacteria and fungi. Microbial proteases are predominantly extracellular and can be secreted in the fermentation medium.

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE PROJECT MATERIAL

PRODUCTION OF PROTEASE BY ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS IN SOLID STATE FERMENTATION.  A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON BIOCHEMISTRY