ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND LIPOLYTIC ACTIVITIES OF STUTZERIMONAS STUTZERI ISOLATED FROM SHEA BUTTER WASTE

Shea butter is extracted from the kernels of the Shea tree Vitellaria paradoxa, producing shea nut cake and shea butter effluent as a waste product. Shea butter is an important lipid material for food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. The isolation and characterization of bacteria from the shea butter waste is imperative to sustainability of shea butter production. Additionally, there is limited research focused on isolating lipolytic bacteria from shea effluent. The aim of this research is to isolate, characterize and determine the lipolytic activity of bacteria species isolated from shea butter waste. Shea effluent and shea nut cake were collected from shea butter producing site, Isale Oke Area in Saki, Oyo State. The samples were serially diluted and cultured on Tryptic Soy Agar. All isolates were characterized based on their morphology and 16S rDNA sequencing. Their lipolytic activity was determined by their ability to grow using different oil as substrates in a submerged fermentation system. The biosurfactant ability of the isolate (SRC) was tested using drop collapse and oil spread method and the cells were harvested. The submerged fermented culture broth of the isolate (SB) was used to detect lipase activity. The isolate SRC tested positive against groundnut oil and shea butter using the drop collapse method. The Solid shea butter waste supported the highest dry cell weight of 14.5 g/L while shea butter yielded only 10.7 g/L after weighing. The submerged fermentation setup containing shea butter solid waste and shea butter had a total protein concentration of 147 μg and 157 μg respectively. The setup with shea butter had the highest lipolytic activity 0.50 μg while coconut oil setup had the least activity of 0.37. This research work shows that Stutzerimonas stutzeri can produce lipase using readily available substrates.