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 $30^{\circ}C$ and at a pH of 8.0.