title: Identification of carbohydrate degrading bacteria in sub-tropical regions.
abstract: Several bacteria from the islands of Puerto Rico, Vieques and Trinidad were isolated for their carbohydrate degrading activities. These terrestrial and marine bacterium were collected from pineapple agricultural lands, tropical rain forests, coastlands and mangrove swamps. Organisms were screened for activity using chromogenic substrates (AZCL Megazyme International Ltd., Ireland). The media composition for the effective culturing of some of the marine organisms has also been standardized. Gram-negative organisms were identified by sequence analysis of the PCR- amplified partial small subunit rRNA gene. Results indicate that the majority of the marine organisms tested belong to the genera Vibrio and Pseudoalteromonas and in the terrestrial environments Chryseobacterium predominated. These experiments reveal that sub-tropical environments are potentially good sources of microorganisms with novel carbohydrase activities.
authors.affiliation: University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, Department of Marine Sciences, Marine Station, P.O. Box 908, Lajas, Puerto Rico 00667.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rosado
authors.forename: Nadathur S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Govind
mesh_terms: D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002863:Chromogenic Compounds; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000032:analysis; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D002863:Chromogenic Compounds; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; C019822:carbohydrase