TAXONOMICAL IDENTITY AND POLYSACCHARIDE PRODUCED BY Bacillus SPECIES ISOLATED FROM OLD AGED MEDICINAL DECOCTIONS

Abstract

In Malay folk medicine, bacterial broth are used in treating diseases such as sore throat and fever. However, the characterisation and identifcation of the bacterial are not know. In the present study, the bacterial broth used as a decoction in Malay folk medicine was investigated. The polysaccharide-producing bacteria were isolated and characterised based on a series of morphological and biochemical assays. A total of 14 isolates tentatively identifed as Bacillus spp. were further characterised using a PIBWin bacterial identifcation program. The identifcation revealed that the cocktail of bacteria belongs to species of Bacillus subtilis ssp. subtilis, Bacillus pumilis, Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus lincheniformis. Five out of 14 isolates, B. coagulans, B. subtilis ssp. subtilis, B. lincheniformis, and two Bacillus spp. were found to produce exo-polysaccharide under static culture conditions. B. coagulans produced the highest amount of polysaccharide followed by B. lincheniformis and B. subtilis ssp. Subtilis. Types of monosaccharide were tentatively identifed using paper chromatography. B. coagulans possesses almost all types of monosaccharides, whereas in the other strains, lactose, raffnose, galactose, glucose, mannose, xylose and/or rhamnose were identifed. The existence of monosaccharide between these isolates showed that the exopolysaccharide produced by Bacillus spp. could possibly be utilised for medicinal purposes. In addition, the identifed bacterial polysaccharide may also have a role in anti-bacterial responses to the traditional treatment approach.