International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 8 (2013) pp. 338-346
Isolation and characterization of caffeine degrading bacteria from West Karnataka, India
J. Sumitha1 * and T. Sivakumar2
1Research and Development Centre, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-641 046, Tamil Nadu, India 1Department of Microbiology, JBAS College for Women, Teynampet, Chennai-600 018, Tamil Nadu, India 2Department of Microbiology, Kanchi Shri Krishna College of Arts and Science, . Kilambi, Kanchipuram-631551, Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding author e-mail: jsumeetha@gmail.com
A B S T R A C T
Isolation of bacteria from soil and leaves of coffee plants and coffee cherries collected in coffee-growing areas of West Karnataka. Thirty two bacterium strains were isolated and exhibited high caffeine tolerance. Pure cultures were maintained on standard conventional nutrient agar medium.According to the physiological- biochemical characteristics the strains were identified as Pseudomonas and Brevibacterium. The bacterium was characterized with conventional tests and used to study the tolerance to different concentration of caffeine in both solid and liquid media. Brevibacterium sp. was grown in a liquid minimal medium containing 1- 10g/L caffeine with glucose and sucrose separately. The bacterium was able to tolerate up to 8g/L of caffeine in solid medium and 3g/L in liquid medium. From the bacterium, a plasmid of about 2000bp MW was isolated. Pseudomonas sp. tolerated up to 10g/L of caffeine in solid medium and 5g/L in liquid medium.
Keywords
Bacteria; caffeine; coffee pulp; Brevibacterium; plasmid.