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Characterization of halophilic bacteria from environmental samples from the brackish water of Pulicat Lake, India

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Abstract

Culture dependent phenotypic characterization and 16S rDNA based phylogenetic analyses were applied to study the aerobic halophilic bacterial population present in the Pulicat brackish-water Lake of India. Five different media were employed for isolation of bacteria. A total of 198 morphotypes were recovered, purified and screened for salt tolerance in nutrient agar medium amended with 5–25% NaCl. Based on 16S rDNA restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis with three restriction endonucleases, 51 isolates tolerant to 5% or more NaCl were grouped into 29 clusters. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that 29 strains could further be allocated into two clades: 19 to Firmicutes and 10 to γ-Proteobacteria. Firmicutes included low G+C Gram-positive bacteria related to family Bacillaceae, which included five genera Bacillus, Virgibacillus, Rummelibacillus, Alkalibacillus and Halobacillus. Another genera included in Firmicutes was Salimicrobium halophilum. In the γ-Proteobacteria group, all the isolates belonged to one genus Halomonas, represented by six different species Halomonas salina, H. shengliensis, H. salifodinae, H. pacifica, H. aquamarina and H. halophila. Most of the isolates exhibited cellulase, xylanase, amylase and protease activities.

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Abbreviations

ARDRA:

amplified rDNA restriction analysis

CFU:

colony-forming unit

NTSYS:

numerical taxonomy system

PHYLIP:

PHYLogeny inference package

RFLP:

restriction fragment length polymorphism

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, Kusmaur, Mau, 275101, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Harmesh Sahay, Rajeev Kaushik & Dilip K. Arora

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Surendra Singh

  3. Division of Microbiology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Anil K. Saxena

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  1. Harmesh Sahay
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  2. Surendra Singh
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  3. Rajeev Kaushik
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  4. Anil K. Saxena
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  5. Dilip K. Arora
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Correspondence to Harmesh Sahay.

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Sahay, H., Singh, S., Kaushik, R. et al. Characterization of halophilic bacteria from environmental samples from the brackish water of Pulicat Lake, India. Biologia 66, 741–747 (2011). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-011-0094-2

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