Exploration of Exopolysaccharide Producing Bacterial Cultures from Various Drought Affected Region
N. Niranjani *
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai-625104, India.
K. Kumutha
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai-625104, India.
R. Subhashini
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai-625104, India.
P. Kannan
Department of Soils and Environment, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai-625104, India.
M. L. Mini
Department of Biochemistry, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai-625104, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are extracellular macromolecules secreted by microorganisms play a vital role in improving soil aggregation as well as enhancing the water holding capacity of the soils. This study focuses onto the isolation and characterization of bacterial strains capable of producing Exopolysaccharides (EPS) from drought-affected soil regions across different districts of Tamil Nadu. The core objective revolves around the molecular identification of elite cultures and pivotal genes, responsible for EPS production namely dex (dextransucrase) by using the primer pair WConDex fw and WConDex rev at an amplification size of 1037 bp size. A total of 72 bacterial cultures were isolated from 67 soil samples that are capable of secreting EPS using specific medium.
Keywords: Exopolysaccharides, phenol sulfuric acid assay, dextran gene