Culturable bacterial diversity and hydrolytic enzymes from drass, a cold desert in India

Bacterial diversity of composite soil sample of drass was explored and screened for various hydrolytic enzymes. About 600 bacterial strains were isolated using six different growth media, that is, R2A, nutrient agar, King’s B media, tryptic soy agar, Luria-Bertani agar and minimal media (100 isolates picked randomly from each media). These bacterial isolates were further differentiated on the basis of colony/cell morphology analysis, pigmentation and growth patterns. The 99 selected strains were subjected to amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis and the representative isolates from each cluster were chosen for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis led to the identification of 40 bacteria, grouped into three major phyla, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes differentiated into 17 different genera. These representatives were also investigated for hydrolases at low temperature (4-30°C). All the isolates secreted one or the other hydrolytic enzyme, that is, esterase (90%), lipase (80%), protease (32.5%), amylase (20%), cellulase (17.5%). These results indicate that culturable bacteria in soil of Drass could serve as an ideal candidate region for enzyme bioprospecting. Key words: Pigment, drass, cultivable bacteria, phylogenetic diversity, enzyme production, soil.