ABSTRACT
Natural fibrinolytic enzymes have been focused recently when compared to chemically synthesize thrombolytic drugs as they are more economical and believe to have less adverse reaction. Belacan (shrimp paste), Budu (fish sauce) and Cencaluk (shrimp sauce) were traditional fermented Malay seafood products used as sources for this study. The isolation and screening resulted in the discovery of 43 potential isolates with the ability as an extracellular fibrin degrader. Each isolate were unique due to differences in morphology characteristics and the amounts of fibrinolytic enzyme secretes under standard growth condition. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that some strains posses the ability to act as tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) which in deed has beneficial to many medicinal and therapeutic purposes. Of these 43 strains investigated for the fibrinolytic enzyme production, three species, mainly the best producer from each food sample were chosen for further molecular identification. This lead to the discovery of B. cereus 13BN, B. subtilis 2CN and B. subtilis 9BD strains, which posses both high fibrinolytic and t-PA activities, making it extremely valuable and promising producer.