Abstract

L-ASPARAGINASE: AN ULTIMATE ANTI-NEOPLASTIC ENZYME ISOLATED FROM BACILLUS SPECIES

S. A. Bhutada* and S. B. Dahikar

Abstract

L- asparaginase is enzyme acting on L- asparagine and is widely used as anticancer agent. The reason it is preferred for the purpose is it is biodegradable, non-toxic and can be administered at the local site quite easily. At present various microorganisms are used for production of L-asparginase. The main objectives of this study were to determine anti-neoplastic activity of enzyme - L-asparaginase from Bacillus species from soil.In the present study, a total of five soil samples were collected from various places near to Kopargaon, from these soil samples 12 isolates were identified as Bacillus licheniformis (5), Bacillus alvei (2), Bacillus megaterium (1), Bacillus cereus (1), Bacillus circulans (1) and Bacillus subtilis (2). The optimization study for the process parameters was given useful information about the production of the enzyme maximally. Potential L-asparginase producer isolates were showed the maximum activity at pH 7 and temperature at 37°C. After that the isolates were exposed to the UV treatment for 5, 10 and 15 min for strain improvement and among them Asp11 (Bacillus subtilis) was found useful strain for the commercial production of the L-Asparaginase. The purified enzyme of Asp11 was used for protein profile. This highly potential species can be used for the commercial production of the enzyme which is having immense medical applications as it is one of the promising treatments for the threatening disease called as cancer.

Keywords: L-asparginase enzyme, Anti-neoplastic acivity, Bacillus species.