en ميکروب شناسي Microbiology Research Article Research Article <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><strong><span style="color:black">Introduction:</span></strong> <span style="color:black">The poultry industry produces a large amount of waste, including chicken feathers, which are difficult to decompose and can cause environmental pollution. Keratinase enzymes, which can break down keratin, have the potential to be used in bioremediation of poultry waste. </span><span style="color:#1f1f1f">The objectives of this study were to screen for keratinolytic isolates from poultry waste, Identify the isolates using morphological, biochemical, and molecular methods; optimize the culture medium conditions for keratinase production and measure the keratinase activity of the isolates.</span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><strong><span style="color:black">Materials and Methods:</span></strong> <span style="color:black">Two keratinolytic isolates were screened from poultry waste around Mashhad in Iran. The isolates were identified using morphological, biochemical, and molecular methods. The culture medium conditions for the two strains were optimized to enhance keratinase production. The keratinase activity was measured using azokeratin substrate and turbidity absorbance.</span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><strong><span style="color:black">Results:</span></strong> <span style="color:black">The two isolates were identified as <i>Bacillus pumilus</i> and <i>Bacillus teqlensis</i>. The optimized culture medium conditions for keratinase production were pH 7.0, temperature 37&deg;C, and incubation time 48 hours. The maximum keratinase activity of the two isolates was 120 U/mL and 100 U/mL, respectively.</span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><strong><span style="color:black">Conclusions:</span></strong> <span style="color:black">The two Bacillus isolates have the potential to be used in bioremediation of poultry waste. The optimized culture medium conditions can be used for large-scale production of keratinase enzymes.</span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="background:white"><span style="color:black">The keratinase enzymes produced by the two Bacillus isolates have the potential to be used in a variety of applications, including bioremediation of poultry waste, production of animal feed, and development of new cleaning products.</span></span><span style="background:white"></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Keywords: keratin, keratinase, Bacillus teqlensis, Bacillus pumilus, poultry industry 0 0 http://mlj.goums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1680-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Bahareh Behfar Baharbehfar55@gmail.com 100319475328460032165 100319475328460032165 No Zabol University Fatemeh Haddadi haddadifatemeh@yahoo.com 100319475328460032166 100319475328460032166 Yes Zabol University Mohammad Reza Sharifmoghadam fs@ferdowsi.um.ac.ir 100319475328460032167 100319475328460032167 No Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Hossein Kamaladini hu-kamaladiny@yahoo.com.au 100319475328460032168 100319475328460032168 No Zabol University Masoumeh Bahreini mbahreini@um.ac.ir 100319475328460032169 100319475328460032169 No Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Azadeh Niknejad niknejad@khu.ac.ir 100319475328460032170 100319475328460032170 No Kharazmi University