title: Construction of a Rapid Feather-Degrading Bacterium by Overexpression of a Highly Efficient Alkaline Keratinase in Its Parent Strain Bacillus amyloliquefaciens K11.
abstract: Keratinase is essential to degrade the main feather component, keratin, and is of importance for wide industrial applications. In this study, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain K11 was found to have significant feather-degrading capacity (completely degraded whole feathers within 24 h). The keratinase encoding gene, kerK, was expressed in Bacillus subtilis SCK6. The purified recombinant KerK showed optimal activity at 50 °C and pH 11.0 and degraded whole feathers within 0.5 h in the presence of DTT. The recombinant plasmids harboring kerK were extracted from B. subtilis SCK6 and transformed into B. amyloliquefaciens K11. As a result, the recombinant B. amyloliquefaciens K11 exhibited enhanced feather-degrading capacity with shortened reaction time within 12 h and increased keratinolytic activity (1500 U/mL) by 6-fold. This efficient and rapid feather-degrading character makes the recombinant strain of B. amyloliquefaciens K11 have potential for applications in feather meal preparation and waste feather disposal.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yingguo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Huiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Pengjun
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Huoqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001407:Bacillus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055162:Biocatalysis; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002645:Chickens; D005241:Feathers / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007633:Keratins / Q000378:metabolism; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D007633:Keratins; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases; C035855:keratinase
keywords: Bacillus amyloliquefaciens K11; extreme alkaline; gene expression; keratinase