Hello!
I want to screen my microorganisms foe their ability to hydrolyze keratin. First, I want to get semi- quantitative data with plate assay, so I need to distribute keratin containing substrate in agar, plate this mixture and then – monitor for the hydrolyses zones. (Like I do with e.g. casein)
The question is: how to get the keratin substrate. It has to be partially hydrolyzed, so I can make “suspension”, but the fragments has to be large enough for media opalescence.
1) On the market (e.g. AliExpress) I see product “Hydrolyzed Keratin”, but the re is no information about the process and degree of hydrolyses. Maybe something worked with it?
2) It is possible to perform the hydrolysis of feathers in the laboratory, but I don’t have the proper protocol. Maybe somebody has one?.
Hello Mikhail Biryukov
Performing feather degradation is an easy alternative. One of my Professors, Dr. Rani Gupta, University of Delhi South Campus, her lab works on keratinases and they employ feathers to assess the keratolytic potential. You can see her publications. Few of them are:
Keratinolytic potential of Bacillus licheniformis RG1: structural and biochemical mechanism of feather degradation
Medium optimization for a novel 58 kDa dimeric keratinase from Bacillus licheniformis ER-15: Biochemical characterization and application in feather degradation and dehairing of hides
Hope this helps you. Good luck!
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