Abstract:
The genus Paracoccus is a group of proteobacteria which is distantly related to Escherichia coli based on the analysis of their 16s rDNA sequence. Microbial biosynthesis of natural products is an emerging area of metabolic engineering and industrial biotechnology that offers significant advantages over conventional chemical methods or extraction from biomass. However, metabolic engineering and industrial biotechnology is highly dependent on the existence of well characterized genes whose functions and characteristics are known. Thus, the potential of any gene to be utilized in the metabolic engineering requires its detection, isolation and eventual characterization. Although acetyl coA acetyltransferase (phaA) gene has been detected and isolated from other organisms, its detection from an extermophile such as Paraccocus baruchii LBOG37 is yet to be carried out. This study sought to optimize the growth conditions and of Paraccocus baruchii LBOG37anddetect phaA gene. The results indicated that indicated that Paracoccus baruchii LBOG37 can grow at 37oC to 54oC; at pH ranges from 9-11; and can utilize carboxymethyl cellulose, starch and glucose. The results also established that the 16S rDNA sequences obtained were related to other Paracoccus species. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis indicated that the gene sequences clustered closely to those in GeneBank. It was also established that the gene amplified was related to phaA gene from other organisms. It was concluded that the organism used in this study was indeed Paracoccus sp LBOG37. It was also concluded that Paracoccus baruchii LBOG37 is a versatile bacteria capable of utilizing carboxymethyl cellulose, starch and glucose as carbon sources and it grows optimally at 40 oC and pH 9.0 and 9.5. It was also concluded that Paracoccus baruchii LBOG37 has phaA gene.
