Proteases belong to an important group of enzymes, both physiologically
and economically. In the cell proteases play a significant role in the
removal of abnormal protein and in many proteolytic reactions such as
control of digestion, immune response and viral assembly where by
proteins significantly modified. The economic importance came to light
for the first time when microbial proteases were introduced in 1960s to
the detergent industry. This led to an exhaustive study to find out
various proteases and also effective means to produce them microbialy.
Microbial proteases were classified in to three categories depending on
the pH at which they show greatest activity, viz. acidic, neutral and
alkaline. Microbial proteases can be obtained from various Bacteria,
Fungus, Blue Green Algae, Antarctic krill and even weeds. Industrially
only Bacillus species were exploited for the production of thermostable
alkaline proteases. In the present study an attempt was made to optimize
the physic-chemical factors for production of alkaline proteases from a
suitable Bacillus species.