Abstract

ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF BIOLUMINESCENT BACTERIA FROM MARINE FISHES COLLECTED FROM KANYAKUMARI COAST

Shani T. John*

ABSTRACT

The present study aims at the screening and characterization of the bioluminescence bacteria from marine fishes which were collected from the coastal regions of kanyakumari, India. The surface swab of the fishes after serial dilution was spread plated onto Luminescent agar (LA) medium. The LA plates were incubated at room temperature (22 -37°C) for 24 hours and every 6 hours the colonies were observed for the luminescence emission in the dark room. The distinct 10 single colonies that produced the most glow in the dark were randomly picked and further re-streaked on to LA plates and incubated again at room temperature (37°C) for 24 hours. Gram staining procedure confirmed that the isolates are gram negative, harbouring pink colour with rod shaped morphology. Then, the isolates were sub-cultured onto Luminescent broth (LB) for overnight and the genomic extraction was done to amplify the Lux-AB gene cassette by using primer 611R (reverse) and 66F (forward). The Lux-AB gene present a PCR product band at 700 bp. This was predicted to be the gene for producing the luminescent light. These luminescent bacteria obtained will be further studied for its potential bio-light application as biosensor, reporter gene and bio light source

Keywords: Fishes, Bioluminescence bacteria, DNA isolation.