Endophytes Producing Proteases from Custard Apple (Annona squamosa L.) Leaves

Abstract

The cost of the proteolytic enzymes and their inability to remove “fine” hairs from the animal hide has been the main obstacles to the commercialization of an enzymatic dehairing procedure. Endophytic microbes that grow inside various plant tissues without causing tissue damage in the host plant are the important sources of bioactive compounds. They are rich in secondary metabolites and known to produce wide range of enzymes. Several endophytes showing different properties have been reported from Annona leaves and hence this study was performed to isolate endophytes having proteolytic properties. Endophytes from custard apple leaves were isolated and screened for proteolytic activity on casein agar plates. The protease enzyme activity of the promising isolates was determined using casein substrate and tyrosine release assay. Present study conducted on the bacterial endophytes from the Custard apple leaves showed that the plant-associated bacterial endophytes are a good reservoir of proteases. Two promising isolates were obtained on the casein agar plates. These two isolates C and D possessed 113U/ml and 102 U/ml enzyme activity respectively. The isolate C showed more dehairing capacity than isolate D. Purified forms of these enzymes can prove to be potential candidates in biotechnological applications.