Identification of Thermophilic Strains from Geothermal Areas in Turkey by using Conventional and Molecular Techniques

TL;DR: It was determined that FAMEs method failed in the identification of thermophilic bacteria at the species level whereas BOX-PCR technique was quite successful in exhibiting genetic differences among thermal isolates.

Abstract: A survey of isolation was practised by obtaining water samples from various thermal facilities in order to find out new types of thermophilic bacteria and to characterize them via phenotypic and genotypic methods. Hence, the test strains were first grouped according to their colonial morphologies and were characterized via conventional (morphological, physiological, biochemical) and molecular [Fatty Acid Methyl Ester profiles (FAME), 16S rRNA sequencing and BOX-PCR] methods. As the result of the research, it was determined that FAMEs method failed in the identification of thermophilic bacteria at the species level whereas BOX-PCR technique was quite successful in exhibiting genetic differences among thermal isolates. On the other hand, as the result of 16S rRNA sequence, 4 of the isolated strains (A7-A10) were determined to resemble Bacillus licheniformis at a rate of ≥97% while 2 of them (A1 and A13) resembled to Anoxybacillus kaynarcensis, 1 of them (A2) to A. flavithermus, 1 of them (A3) to A. rupiensis, 1 of them (A4) to A. thermarum, 1 of them (A5) to A. gonensis, 1 of them (A11) to B. thermoamylovorans,1 of them (A12) to Ureibacillus thermospaericus, 1 of them (A14) to Brevibacillus brevis, 1 of them (A6) to B. thermolactis and again 1 of them resembled to B. thermoruber (Z1) at the same rate. Their amylase and cellulase productions were also examined and analyzed and the enzyme producing isolates that were biotechnologically valuable were presented to be used in the prospective studies.