Isolation and Characterization of a Protease-Producing Bacterium, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens P27 from Meju as a Probiotic Starter for Fermented Meat Products

This study was performed to select protease-producing Bacillus sp. as a potential probiotic starter for fermented meat products. In order to isolate protease-producing bacterium from meju, measured the diameter of the clear zone on agar plate (TSA, 1% (w/v) skim milk) and analyzed for intracellular protease activity, then 10 Bacillus-like strains were isolated. Three Bacillus-like strains (P19, P27, and P33) among 10 strains were able to tolerate in acidic condition (TSB, pH 2.5, 2 h incubation). These 3 strains were showed antimicrobial activity against food-borne pathogenic bacteria. These vegetative cells of 3 strains were showed a survival rate of 0.04% to 0.08% under the artificial gastric acidic condition (TSB, pH 2.5 with 1% (w/v) pepsin), but spore-forming cells were 56.29% to 84.77%. Vegetative cells of 3 strains were the least bile-resistant, while spore-forming cells of 3 strains showed higher survival rate more than 76% under artificial bile condition (TSB, 0.1% (w/v) oxgall bile). In these strains, P27 strain was finally selected as a good probiotic strain. P27 strain was tentatively identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens by API CHB kit and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The results of this study suggest that B. amyloliquefaciens P27 can be used as a potential probiotic starter for fermented meat product.