Book Overview

Proteases are essential constituents of all forms of life on earth. Microbial proteases are among the most important, extensively studied groups since the development of enzymology. Alkaline proteases are so far exploited as industrial catalysts in various industrial sectors. Neutralophilic and alkaliphilic microbial alkaline proteases possess a considerable industrial potential due to their biochemical diversity and stability at extreme pH environments, respectively (Moon et al. 1994). However, the demanding industrial conditions for technological applications and cost of alkaline proteases production resulted in continuous exercise for search of new microbial resources. Extreme environments are important sources for isolation of microorganisms for novel industrial enzymes production (Kumar & Takagi, 1999). Enzyme cost is also the most critical factor limiting wide use of alkaline proteases for different applications. A large part of this cost is accounted for the production cost of the enzyme. Therefore, reduction in the production cost of enzymes could greatly reduce the cost of the enzyme. In submerged fermentation up to 40% of the total production cost of enzymes is due to the production of the growth substrate (Enshasy et al. 2008; Kirk et al. 2002). In this regard, SMF method is used to optimize the parameters of enzyme production and SSF which uses cheap agricultural residues which have enormous potential in reducing enzyme production cost. So, studies on alkaline proteases that are produced in SMF and SSF by alkaliphilic microorganisms are scarce in literature as a result, it is of great importance to pursue such studies.