Studies on Alkaline Lipase: Isolation and Identification of Lipase Producing Microorganisms

Abstract

In order to obtain lipases similar to that of pancreatic origin, some 1000 bacteria isolated from soil were screened in respect to the following characteristics: (1) optimum pH for activity is in the alkaline region, (2) lipase activity is stimulated by bile salts and (3) a large amount ofmonoglyceride is accumulated during fat hydrolysis. The 14 selected isolates were divided into two groups from the preservation profile; bacteria of group I were viable for a long period on nutrient agar medium, while group II bacteria were all dead within 20 days on nutrient agar slants. Some properties of lipases produced by these bacteria were preliminarily examined with respect to the similarity to the pancreatic lipase and a promising strain was isolated from each group. The two strains were examined for microbiological characteristics and suggested to be new species belonging to the genus Alcaligenes.