TAXONOMICAL IDENTITY AND POLYSACCHARIDE PRODUCED BY Bacillus SPECIES ISOLATED FROM OLD AGED MEDICINAL DECOCTIONS
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Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Sustainability Science and Management
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.
Description
Keywords
Bacillus spp., Paper Chromatography, Monosaccharide, Malay Traditional Medicine, Poly-saccharide