Isolation, Screening, Identification, Molecular Characterization and Optimizatiom of Lipase producing Bacteria from Edible Oil Contaminated Soil in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

Lipase is an important hydrolytic enzyme used for numerous industrial applications due to their qualities such as versatility, specificity, increased sustainability and environmental friendliness. This work focused on the isolation, screening, identification and molecular characterization of lipase producing bacteria isolated from edible oil contaminated soil in Maiduguri, Borno state as well as their optimization for higher lipase production. Bacteria were isolated using standard microbiological techniques and screened for lipase production using tributyrine, rhodamine B and Tween 80 agar media. Secondary screening for high lipase producing bacteria was done in a mineral salt medium. The highest lipase producing bacteria was suspected to be Pseudomonas sp which was identified as Stutzerimonas stutzeri by sequencing using 16s rRNA gene when subjected to homology search using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). Lipase producing parameters were subjected to varying temperatures and pH for optimal lipase production. The bacteria Stutzerimonas stutzeri were identified as good candidates for lipase production in this research. having the highest lipase activity (10.65 U/mL) with coconut oil as the substrate, glycerol as the carbon source, yeast extract as the nitrogen source, pH 9.0, incubation at 40 °C for 48 h, inoculum size of 4000 µL, and agitation at 120 rpm, resulting in a substantial yield increase.