Screening, Isolation and Characterization of Aerobic Magnetotactic Bacteria From Western Ghats Forest Soil

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are a unique ecophysiological group of iron-metabolizing bacteria that have immense potential biotechnological applications. These bacteria have predominantly been isolated from oxygen-limited conditions of aquatic niches and rarely from the soils. The Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot has been well-studied for its fauna and flora diversity. The present study includes optimization of enrichment medium for cultivation of MTB, to suit aerobic mesophiles from forest soil. The major components included were Ferric quinate and Resazurin. The enrichment and isolates were characterized for their magnetic properties using magnetotaxis on agar plates, Vibrating Sampler Magnetometer (VSM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The isolates, namely Bacillus sp. S1 (MN212953), Sphingoaurantiacus sp. S2_03 (MN212954), Burkholderia sp. S2_08 (MN212955) and Microvirga sp. S2_09 (MN212956) were isolated and characterized to have a magnetosome size of 2.5–8 nm. Our study is the first report on the enrichment and isolation of MTB from Western Ghats forest soil.