Isolation and characterization of marine bacteria for value-added products

Abstract

Isolation and characterization of marine bacteria for value-added products Marine micro-organisms are attaining great significance in the field of biotechnology. The present study focuses on isolation of protease producing and ethanol-producing bacteria from marine samples. Total four protease producing strains (Dpro-1,Dpro-2, Dpro-3, and Dpro-4)and ten ethanol-tolerant strains were isolated. Out of the four protease producing strains,Dpro-1 gave the best proteolytic activity of 0.117U/ml and was identified as Bacillus subtilis.Upon optimization, the protease activity increased approximately 100%. For the tenethanol-tolerant strains, different domestic wastes (paper, kitchen, garden, and fruit pulp)were used as the substrate. The bacterial strain E4 in the kitchen waste and the fruit pulp waste provided the best outcome for ethanol production via colorimetric assay. The ethanol estimation via HPLC showed a small peak.Hence,it was resolved that the selected isolates are ethanol producing,but for better analysis,confirmation through gas chromatography is needed.