ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LIGNIN DEGRADING BACTERIA

Abstract

Ligninolytic bacteria has remained an interesting research area from decades. Optimization of enzyme extraction from fungi is a tedious task, thus, focus has been shifted to bacteria which possess the capability to degrade lignin. This research assessed few bacterial isolates for ligninolytic and peroxidase properties for the utilization and degradation of lignin into its constituents. Five bacterial isolates were studied for their potentiality to degrade lignin using peroxidase enzyme. The isolates were sub-cultured numerous times to achieve pure strain. The screened colonies for lignin degradation were subjected to morphological and biochemical tests. Each of the isolate was evaluated for lignin degradation, total enzyme activity and total protein. Isolate 3 (C3) was found to be the potential bacterium in terms of growth rate (lignin degradation), activity (30.4 U/mL), and protein concentration (32mg/mL). Further C3 was identified as Arthrobacter sp. E147 which belongs to the family Micrococcaceae by 16S rRNA sequencing. The protein from each isolate was analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The potentiality of the aforementioned bacterial isolate for its industrial applications is abundant since there is a lack of information on organisms with such potential.