DIVERSITY OF EXTREMOPHILIC MAGENSITE BACTERIA AND IT’S ENZYMATIC POTENTIAL

The present study focuses on the diversity of extremophilic bacteria from magnesite soil which are less explored and screened for the multitude of commercially important enzymes produced. Five different soil samples varying in color were collected from magnesite deposit Salem, Tamil Nadu. The soil samples had pH of 8-9, high nitrogen content, low phosphorous, potassium and trace elements. A remarkable reduction in total heterotrophic bacterial diversity of the ranging between 2.0x 107 CFU/g and 5.2x105 CFU/g. Generic composition of 25 isolates comprised of 28% Bacillus spp., followed by 20% Staphylococcus spp., 16% Enterobacter spp., 12% Pseudomonas spp., 12% Escherichia coli, 8% Micrococcus spp. and 4% Serratia spp. Maximum of 72% of isolates showed lipase activity followed by 68% L-asparaginase, 60% protease, 52% cellulase, 44% L-glutaminase, 20% amylase and 4% tyrosinase activity were observed. The dialysate of culture filtrate exhibited 27000 U/ml of lipase, 5393 U/ml and 5923 U/ml of L-asparaginase and 4074 U/ml of -amylase activity. The 16s rDNA sequence analysis of S5B2 showed 100% similarity with Bacillus pumilus (X8), S1B4 with 99% of Bacillus pumilus (X22) and 99% of S2B2 with Bacillus licheniformis (2J-1). This is the first report on the bacterial diversity from Magnesite soil with the potential to produce industrially robust enzymes for various biotechnological applications.