Evaluation of the enzymatic activity of selected bacterial strains

In these studies we attempted to evaluate the lipolytic, proteolytic and cellulolytic activity of bacterial strains isolated from water and the bottom sediments of Turawa Lake. The following bacterial genera prevailed among the isolated strains: Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Cellulomonas and Cytophaga. The lipolytic activity was determined using a titrimetric method, the proteolytic activity — using a modified Anson method, and the cellulolytic activity - on the basis of mass decrement of a cellulose disk after 14 days of bacterial culture. The cultures were maintained at 28°C, pH 7.0 with the following substrates: olive oil, albumin and cellulose disk. Among the analysed microorganisms, Bacillus and Pseudomonas strains showed the highest lipolytic and proteolytic activity. In the cellulolytic assay Cytophaga bacteria showed about twofold higher activity than that of Celulomonas.