Investigation of Lipolytic-Secreting Bacteria from an Artificially Polluted Soil Using a Modified Culture Method and Optimization of Their Lipase Production

Compared to lipases from plants or animals, microbial lipases play a vital role in different industrial applications and biotechnological perspectives due to their high stability and cost-effectiveness. Therefore, numerous lipase producers have been investigated in a variety of environments in the presence of lipidic carbon and organic nitrogen sources. As a step in the development of cultivating the unculturable functional bacteria in this study, the forest soil collected from the surrounding plant roots was used to create an artificially contaminated environment for lipase-producing bacterial isolation. The ten strongest active bacterial strains were tested in an enzyme assay supplemented with metal ions such as Ca(2+), Zn(2+), Cu(2+), Fe(2+), Mg(2+), K(+), Co(2+), Mn(2+), and Sn(2+) to determine bacterial tolerance and the effect of these metal ions on enzyme activity. Lipolytic bacteria in this study tended to grow and achieved a high lipase activity at temperatures of 35–40 °C and at pH 6–7, reaching a peak of 480 U/mL and 420 U/mL produced by Lysinibacillus PL33 and Lysinibacillus PL35, respectively. These potential lipase-producing bacteria are excellent candidates for large-scale applications in the future.