Bio-Indigo Production by Hydrocarbon Degrading Acinetobacter sp. GRJ

Nidhi Dubey and Lolly Jain

Department of Microbiology, K.J. Somaiya College of Science and Commerce, Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India.

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/1122

ABSTRACT: Indigo is one of the oldest dyes manufactured chemically and is mostly used in textile, food and pharmaceutical industries. However owing to the environmental hazards posed by chemical production, the present scenario in the field stipulates a biosynthetic alternative for indigo production. In this study a novel indigo producing bacterial strain GRJ was isolated from oil contaminated garage soil. It was identified as Acinetobacter sp. according to the phylogenetic similarity of 16S rRNA gene sequence. This isolate was able to produce indigo from indole after induction on diesel oil as the hydrocarbon source. The blue pigment was analyzed by HPTLC and UV-VIS Spectrophotometer, which revealed it to be indigo dye. The maximum production of indigo was achieved in Bushnell and Hass medium using 2mM indole concentration. Under optimized conditions the Acinetobacter strain GRJ showed ability to produce 615 mg of indigo liter-1.

KEYWORDS: Indigo; indole; hydrocarbon degradation; Acinetobacter sp

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