CHARACTERIZATION AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF HALOVIBRIO VARIABILIS MLA3 (A HETEROTROPHIC BACTERIUM) ISOLATED FROM A SALINE-ALKALINE LAKE OF RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Author(s): Deepesh Kumar Neelam, Akhil Agrawal, Anuj Kumar Tomer and Pawan K Dadheech*

Abstract: Halophiles are salt loving microorganisms those produce industrially important enzymes showing activity at high salt concentration and alkaline condition. This study describes the isolation, physiological and biochemical characterization, phylogenetic analysis of a moderately halophilic bacterial strain MLA3 and screening of the strain for industrially important enzymes production. The strain MLA3 was isolated from Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan, India. It was gram-negative, motile, rod shaped, and optimal growth observed at 10% (w/v) NaCl concentration, pH 8.0 and 30 °C. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the strain MLA3 was phylogenetically identified as members of the genus Halovibrio and clustered in clade with type species Halovibrio variabilis DSM 3050. The occurrence of the studied strains is an addition of the genus Halovibrio in microbial diversity of Sambhar Lake. The MLA3 was found to be capable to hydrolyse skim milk, Tween80 and starch. It showed maximum hydrolysis zone for starch and skim milk and quantitatively, amylase and protease enzyme production was estimated to be 7.3 ± 0.05 U/ml and 1.7 ± 0.03 U/ml, respectively. The present study indicates that Sambhar Lake is treasure of still many unexplored microorganisms which are capable to produce industrially significant enzymes.

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