Authors :

Riddhima P. Desai*, and Pratibha B. Desai**

Author Address :

*Department of Microbiology, Dolat-Usha Institute of Applied Sciences and Dhiru-Sarla Institute of Management & Commerce, Gujarat, India and **Shri Ram Krishnan Institute of Computer Education and Applied Sciences, Gujarat, India. Email : riddhimadesai85@gmail.com

Abstract :

The environment is a treasure for a variety of life forms with characteristics they use for various purposes. One such living form is pigmented bacteria which can produce different types of colourful substances with bioactive properties. The present study aims to screen and isolate such bacteria by exploring different environmental locations. Totally 40 samples were collected and processed for screening of pigmented bacteria. From these samples, 37 yellow and orange pigmented bacteria were collected. Out of 37 bacteria 10 isolates were studied for colonial, morphological characteristics. Among the 2 isolates, one orange (P5) and one yellow (P1) were processed further for various enzymatic tests and molecular identification. The orange was identified as Rhodococcus corynebacterioides and yellow was identified as Micrococcus aloeverae. Both the isolates were cultivated to produce pigment and checked for different organic solvents to extract pigments. Methanol, acetone and chloroform were tested and methanol together with chloroform was suitable for P5 and only methanol was suited for P1. Thus, it can be concluded that various marine sources can be used for yellow and orange pigmented bacteria and it can be further studied to get better production of pigments by applying various strategies. Moreover, various bioactive properties can also be measured.  

Keywords :

Bacteria, Rhodococcus corynebacterioides, Micrococcus aloeverae, yellow pigment, orange pigment and Solvent extraction