Abstract: Proteases are a group of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of protein and among the various proteases, bacterial proteases are the most significant when compared to animal and fungal proteases. In this study, a local bacterial isolate Bacillus megaterium IBRL MS 8.2 was found to produce the highest protease production of 155.38 U mL-1 when cultivating it in the improved medium which consisted of initial medium pH of 7.5, inoculum size of 7.5% (3x107 cells mL-1), agitation speed of 150 rpm, incubation temperature of 30°C, 0.5% of sucrose and 1.0% of beef extract. The highest protease production was achieved on the 30 h of cultivation. On the other hand, the highest cell growth of 2.33 g L-1 was achieved on 18 h of cultivation time. The data obtained suggest that enzyme production by B. megaterium IBRL MS 8.2 was not growth dependant.
I. Darah, M.L. Choo and S.H. Lim, 2013. Influence of Physical and Chemical Parameters on Protease Production by Bacillus megaterium IBRL MS 8.2 in Submerged Fermentation. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 8: 54-61.