• PRODUCTION, PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NATTOKINASE FROM BACILLUS SUBTILIS, ISOLATED FROM SEWAGE WATER

Abstract

Nattokinase is an enzyme that finds a wide range of applications in Pharmaceutical industry, health care and Medicine etc. Nattokinase is a naturally-occurring proteolytic enzyme derived from natto, a traditional Japanese food produced from the fermentation of soybeans with Bacillus subtilis natto. It is an enzyme that digests fibrin both directly and indirectly. Indirectly, it activates pro-urokinase and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), supporting the fibrinolytic activity of plasmin. These combined actions promote healthy platelet function, circulation and blood flow. Our aim was to isolate and characterize nattokinase from Bacillus subtilis isolated from sewage water. In this study, nattokinase producing Bacillus subtillis was isolated from sewage water samples. The characterization results of the purified enzyme showed its optimum conditions at 37oC, pH 7, at 5% substrate concentration and at 1 ml of 10% zinc chloride activator. The enzyme activity found to be gradually declined at temperature beyond 70oC. The purified enzyme was characterized and the results were found to be promising for future studies and industrial uses.