Biotechnological Potential of Some Cold-Adapted Bacteria Isolated from North-Western Himalaya

Abstract

In the present study, cold-adapted bacteria were isolated from soil, water and glacial ice samples collected from various geographical locations within the north-western Himalayan region. The bacterial population was studied for various morphological and biochemical features and based on this a total 43 isolates were selected for sequencing of 16S rRNA gene. A predominance of pyschrotolerant bacteria (77%) was recorded in comparison to the moderately psychrophilic (21%) and true psychrophilic bacteria (2%). The sequence data when analyzed for homology search, showed a similarity varying between 81 to 100% with the known bacterial species in the public database. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the bacterial isolates belonging to the phyla of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes distributed in 10 genera and 27 different species. Some of the isolates were tested positive for the production of cold-active enzymes such as protease, lipase, amylase and DNase. Out of the 11 pigmented bacterial isolates, pigment extracted from 7 exhibited antioxidant activity.