Author(s)

Nurul Alam, Manas Sarkar, Trinath Chowdhury, Dipak Ghosh, Brajadulal Chattopadhyay^*

Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.

Background: Use of novel microorganisms for beneficial purposes is still remaining a challenging job. This study was designed to isolate, characterize and use of a novel hot spring bacterial strain from a virgin hot spring of Metaldanga, Birbhum, West Bengal, India. Methods: A pure bacterial strain (MDH1) was identified by growing the enrichment culture isolated from Metaldanga hot spring through serial dilution process in a semi-synthetic medium at pH 8.0 and 42°C temperature. The novelty of the strain was characterized by 16S-rRNA gene sequence analysis. The bacterium acted as template to synthesize spherical gold nanoparticles (GNPs). GNPs were characterized by using UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). Results: The phylogenetic analysis suggested that MDH1 strain (GenBank accession number: KT600031) was affiliated to the family “Pseudomonadaceae” with 99% homologous to Pseudomonas putida H8234. The coccoid shaped bacterium was gram-negative and facultative-anaerobic which acted as a template to synthesize spherical GNPs with an average size of 12 ± 3 nm when examined under transmission electron microscopy (TEM). FT-IR studies revealed the presence of bioactive functional groups which acted as capping and stabilizing agents of the GNPs. XRD pattern confirmed the amorphous nature of GNPs. The Zeta potential (ζ) concluded the adequate stability of GNPs in an aqueous environment. Conclusions: The present investigation explores the microbial diversity of a virgin hot spring of Metaldanga for its beneficial applications in industry, particularly in the synthesis of the gold nanoparticles.

Hot Spring Bacteria, Phylogenetic Characterization, Green Synthesis, Gold Nanoparticles

Alam, N. , Sarkar, M. , Chowdhury, T. , Ghosh, D. and Chattopadhyay, B. (2016) Characterization of a Novel MDH1 Bacterium from a Virgin Hot Spring Applicable for Gold Nanoparticle (GNPs) Synthesis. Advances in Microbiology, 6, 724-732. doi: 10.4236/aim.2016.69071.