St udies on Haloalkaliphilic gammaproteobacteria from hypersaline Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan, India

The diversity of haloalkaliphilic gammaproteobacteria from hypersaline Sambhar soda lake, India was analyzed. Four different sampling points were selected within the lake. Nine moderate and extreme isolates were identified using morphological, biochemical and 16S rRNA sequencing method. These isolates were screened for salt, pH and temperature tolerance. In the gammaproteobacteria group, all the selected isolates belonged to one genus Halomonas represented by four different species Halomonas pantelleriensis, Halomonas venusta, Halomonas alkaliphila, and Halomonas sp. All these isolates were capable to grow in 10 -20% NaCl concentrations, 8-12 pH and 20 to 50 C temperature. These isolates were competent to produce industrially important extracellular hydrolytic enzymes. Most of them were shown to produce cellulase, pectinase and xylanase.