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Microbial alkaline serine proteases: Production, properties and applications

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Abstract

Proteolytic enzymes hold a pivotal position in numerous industrial processes where hydrolysis of protein molecules is required under precise conditions. The emerging trend of biotechnological applications in recent years has witnessed a renewed interest in alkaline serine proteases extending their utility in detergent, leather, textile, food and pharmaceutical industries. A variety of microorganisms have been reported to produce alkaline serine proteases on a large scale, however, extensive research to find an alkaline serine protease with desirable characteristics such as significant catalytic efficiency, expanded stability and broad substrate specificity is still ongoing. Although submerged fermentation dominates the commercial enzyme production, recent reports have emphasized on solid state fermentation technology which can reduce major cost associated with the enzyme production. In the present review, recent research on alkaline serine proteases along with their novel properties and production using solid state fermentation have been discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the facilities of Department of Biosciences, Maharaja Ranjit Singh College of Professional Sciences, Indore used in the present study. The authors also acknowledge the facilities provided by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi (DBT) in the School of Biotechnology, Devi Ahilya University, Indore under M.Sc. Biotechnology Program and Bioinformatics sub-center.

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This research did not receive any specific Grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Correspondence to Anand Nighojkar.

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Matkawala, F., Nighojkar, S., Kumar, A. et al. Microbial alkaline serine proteases: Production, properties and applications. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 37, 63 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03036-z

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