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Isolation and Characterization of a Nitrile-Hydrolysing Bacterium Isoptericola variabilis RGT01

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Abstract

A nitrile-hydrolysing bacterium, identified as Isoptericola variabilis RGT01, was isolated from industrial effluent through enrichment culture technique using acrylonitrile as the carbon source. Whole cells of this microorganism exhibited a broad range of nitrile-hydrolysing activity as they hydrolysed five aliphatic nitriles (acetonitrile, acrylonitrile, propionitrile, butyronitrile and valeronitrile), two aromatic nitriles (benzonitrile and m-Tolunitrile) and two arylacetonitriles (4-Methoxyphenyl acetonitrile and phenoxyacetonitrile). The nitrile-hydrolysing activity was inducible in nature and acetonitrile proved to be the most efficient inducer. Minimal salt medium supplemented with 50 mM acetonitrile, an incubation temperature of 30 °C with 2 % v/v inoculum, at 200 rpm and incubation of 48 h were found to be the optimal conditions for maximum production (2.64 ± 0.12 U/mg) of nitrile-hydrolysing activity. This activity was stable at 30 °C as it retained around 86 % activity after 4 h at this temperature, but was thermolabile with a half-life of 120 min and 45 min at 40 °C and 50 °C respectively.

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Acknowledgments

Gurdeep Kaur gratefully acknowledges Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Govt. of India, for the fellowship. Dr. Rakesh Sharma, IGIB, New Delhi for identification of the strain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Microbial Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India

    Gurdeep Kaur, Rupinder Tewari & Rohit Sharma

  2. Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, 160036, India

    Pankaj Soni

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  1. Gurdeep Kaur
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  2. Pankaj Soni
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  3. Rupinder Tewari
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  4. Rohit Sharma
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Correspondence to Rohit Sharma.

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Kaur, G., Soni, P., Tewari, R. et al. Isolation and Characterization of a Nitrile-Hydrolysing Bacterium Isoptericola variabilis RGT01. Indian J Microbiol 54, 232–238 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-014-0453-0

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