Organic solvent tolerant actinomycete which secretes organic solvent stable enzymes.

Author(s): Shivaji Waghmare, Seema Sambrani*, Arvind Deshmukh

Abstract

A solvent tolerant actinomycete was isolated from Balaghat ranges of Maharashtra, India. The actinomycete was identified as Streptomyces and based on 16S rRNA phylogenesis it was identified as Streptomyces hygroscopicus. The organism could grow with up to pH 9.0 at 350C and optimally at pH 7.0 at 450C within 24 h. The organism could utilize most sugars and reduced nitrates. It shows caseinase, amylase, catalase, lecithinase, cellulose and lipase activities. It was able to tolerate and secrete the enzymes in the presence of a number of organic solvents including methanol, acetone, butanol, benzene and toluene. However, the organism produced a granular cell mass with all solvents and a brown soluble melanin pigment which was evident in the absence of solvents disappeared in the presence of solvents. The study holds significance as only few solvent tolerant actinomycetes from soil are explored and information on their enzymatic potential is still scarce. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on organic solvent tolerant Streptomyces hygroscopicus from soil.

Share this article

International Journal of Bioassays is a member of the Publishers International Linking Association, Inc. (PILA), CROSSREF and CROSSMARK (USA). Digital Object Identifier (DOI) will be assigned to all its published content.