Cloning, over expression and functional attributes of serine proteases from Oceanobacillus iheyensis O.M.A18 and Haloalkaliphilic bacterium O.M.E12

• Over-expression and characterization of proteases from haloalkaliphilic bacteria.
• Haloalkaliphilic bacteria rarely studied for expression and functional analysis.
• Recombinant enzymes described in comparative manner.
• Sequence analysis of proteases from haloalkaliphilic bacteria.

Cloning, over-expression, characterization and structural and functional analysis of two alkaline proteases from the newly isolated haloalkaliphilic bacteria: Oceanobacillus iheyensis O.M.A18 and Haloalkaliphilic bacterium O.M.E12 were carried out. The cloned protease genes were over-expressed in Escherichia coli within 6 h of the IPTG induction. The protease genes were sequenced and the sequence submitted to the GenBank with the accession numbers, HM219179 and HM219182. The recombinant proteases were active in the range of pH 8–11 and temperature 30–50 °C. The amino acid sequences of the alkaline proteases displayed hydrophobic character and stable configurations. The amino acids Asp 141, His 171 and Ser 324 formed the catalytic triad, while Ile, Leu and Ser were other amino acid moieties present in the active site. The characteristics of the recombinant proteases were compared and found to be similar to their native counterparts. On the basis of the in-silico analysis and inhibitor studies, the enzymes were confirmed as serine proteases. The study hold significance as only limited enzymes from the haloalkaliphilic bacteria have been cloned, sequenced and analyzed for the structure and function analysis.