IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PROTEASES AND AMYLASES PRODUCING Bacillus licheniformis STRAIN EMBS026 BY 16S rRNA GENE SEQUENCING

Development of natural antimicrobial strategies has always attracted researchers, as disease outbreaks are recognized as important constraints to living organisms because of the development of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms. Use of probiotic bacteria has been in practice as alternatives to antimicrobials in disease control as microbial control agents. Probiotics, the natural and beneficial micro flora has been widely accepted and used in farming and aquaculture because of its diversified applications. It improves water and pond sediment quality which inturn improves aquatic life. Bacterial pathogenicity and virulence can be controlled without using excessive antibiotics which help to minimize the risk of multiple antibiotic resistances. Probiotic help in increased productivity and profits when used properly as they produce antagonistic compounds that are inhibitory toward pathogens, compete with harmful microorganisms for nutrients and energy, compete with deleterious species for adhesion sites, enhance the immune response of the animal, improve water quality, and interact with phytoplankton. Among the large number of probiotic products in use today are bacterial spore formers, mostly of the genus Bacillus. The genus Bacillus is widely used as probiotic products because of its extremely resistant spores which provide exceptional longevity and release exoenzymes. The current investigation is to identify a novel strain of Bacillus licheniformis by application of 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The approach is to identify a novel, proteases and amylases producing bacteria which is used for detergent production. The sample was isolated from near Gudiwada, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Subsequently the sample was serially diluted and the aliquots were incubated for a suitable time period following which the suspected colony was subjected to 16S rDNA sequencing. The results showed the isolate to be a novel, high alkaline protease producing bacteria, which was named Bacillus licheniformis strain EMBS026, after characterization the sequence of isolate was deposited in GenBank with accession number JQ267798.