Occurrence of Thermostable Lipase in Thermophilic<i>Bacillus</i>Sp. Strain 398

Abstract

A thermophilic Bacillus species producing extracellular lipase has been newly isolated from the soil of a Korean hot spring. The enzyme purified to homogeneity from the culture supernatant had high thermostability; it did not lose activity upon incubation at 60°C for 30 min. The enzyme was fairly stable in the range of pH from 4 to 11, suggesting its usefulness for applications in organic synthesis.