Isolation, Identification, and Characterization of a Keratin-degrading Bacterium Chryseobacterium sp. P1-3

In this study, a keratin-degrading bacterium was isolated from soil contaminated with feather waste.The isolated strain was identified as Chryseobacterium sp.P1-3 on the basis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence alignment.Chryseobacterium sp.P1-3 is currently used in various biotechnological applications (e.g., in the hydrolysis of poultry feathers).It hydrolyzed the feather meal within 2 days and possesses a high level of keratinase activity (98 U/mL).The keratinase, partially purified from this strain, prefers casein as a substrate and shows optimal activity at a temperature of 30 o C and at a pH of 8.0.