Diversity of protease-producing bacteria in the soils of the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Islands 0303 health sciences Bacteria Antarctic Regions Biodiversity 15. Life on land Soil 03 medical and health sciences RNA, Ribosomal, 16S 14. Life underwater Phylogeny Soil Microbiology Peptide Hydrolases
DOI: 10.1007/s10482-021-01533-7 Publication Date: 2021-02-19T08:53:40Z
ABSTRACT
Proteases secreted from bacteria into soil play a key role in the degradation of organic nitrogen, which is the first and, usually, the rate-limiting step of nitrogen cycling. However, the diversity of protease-producing bacteria and their excreted proteases in Antarctic soil have not yet been fully explored. Here we studied 20 soil samples from the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica and isolated 253 strains with protease activity. These protease-producing bacteria belonged to the phyla Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococcus-Thermus. Thhe predominant genera were Arthrobacter (14.9%), Chryseobacterium (14.5%), Flavobacterium (14.5%), and Pseudomonas (14.5%). Most of these bacteria secreted serine proteases and metalloproteases. There was quite a large distribution in activity as quantified by protease and inhibition assays. Only a few strains secreted aspartic and/or cysteine proteases. Together these data provided novel insight into the diversity and mechanism of organic nitrogen degradation in Antarctic soils by various proteases, which may have potential in new biotechnological applications.
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