Thermophile-derived keratinase and use thereof

Abstract
The present invention relates to a novel thermophile-derived keratinase having keratin decomposition ability. Further, the present invention relates to a polynucleotide encoding the keratinase, a recombinant vector containing the same, host cells transformed by using the recombinant vector, and a method for preparing a keratinase including a step of culturing the host cells. Further, the present invention relates to a composition for decomposing keratin containing the enzyme; and a method for decomposing keratin by using the same. Further, the present invention relates to a keratin decomposed product decomposed by the enzyme.
The keratinase according to the present invention rapidly and effectively decomposes hardly-decomposable keratin, and thus it is expected that the keratinase can be used for the effective treatment and the high value-added resource recovery of agricultural and livestock waste, which causes environmental problems (for example, a novel material for enzyme cosmetics), and can be used in an innovative enzymatic bioconversion technique utilizing various decomposition enzyme groups.