Simultaneous hydrolysis of various protein-rich industrial wastes by a naturally evolved protease from tannery wastewater microbiota

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2022-04, Vol.815, p.152796-152796, Article 152796
• Main Authors: Ariaeenejad, Shohreh, Kavousi, Kaveh, Mamaghani, Atefeh Sheykh Abdollahzadeh, Ghasemitabesh, Rezvaneh, Hosseini Salekdeh, Ghasem
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biodegradation; Hydrolysis; Industrial Waste - analysis; Metagenome; Microbiota; Peptide Hydrolases; Protease; Thermostable; Waste Water; Wastewater
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152796

Elimination of protein-rich waste materials is one of the vital environmental protection requirements. Using of non-naturally occurring chemicals for their remediation properties can potentially induce new pollutants. Therefore, enzymes encoded in the genomes of microorganisms evolved in the same environment can be considered suitable alternatives to chemicals. Identification of efficient proteases that can hydrolyze recalcitrant, protein-rich wastes produced by various industrial processes has been widely welcomed as an eco-friendly waste management strategy. In this direction, we attempted to screen a thermo-halo-alkali-stable metagenome-derived protease (PersiProtease1) from tannery wastewater. The PersiProtease1 exhibited high pH stability over a wide range and at 1 h in pH 11.0 maintained 87.59% activity. The enzyme possessed high thermal stability while retaining 76.64% activity after 1 h at 90 °C. Moreover, 65.34% of the initial activity of the enzyme remained in the presence of 6 M NaCl, showing tolerance against high salinity. The presence of various metal ions, inhibitors, and organic solvents did not remarkably inhibit the activity of the discovered protease. The PersiProtease1 was extracted from the tannery wastewater microbiota and efficiently applied for biodegradation of real sample tannery wastewater protein, chicken feathers, whey protein, dehairing sheepskins, and waste X-ray films. PersiProtease1 proved its enormous potential in simultaneous biodegradation of solid and liquid protein-rich industrial wastes based on the results. [Display omitted] •Efficient proteases that can hydrolyze protein-rich wastes produce are crucial.•A novel metagenome-derived PersiProtease1 was screened from tannery wastewater microbiota.•The novel protease was active and stable under various harsh conditions.•PersiProtease1 degrade protein wastes containing chicken feathers, whey protein, dehairing sheepskins.•PersiProtease1 can do the biodegradation of protein-rich wastes simultaneously.