PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

In the present study soil samples were collected from sunflower field in Madurai district. A total of 12 morphologically distinct bacterial isolates were initially isolated and was used for further screening. The isolated 12 bacterial strains were subjected to primary screening on inulin agar in which garlic extract was used as in which inulin acts as the sole carbon source. Out of the 12 bacterial isolates screened only two bacterial strains, RI-7 and RI-10 were selected for further study. Identification of the inulinase producing bacteria named as RI-7 and RI-10, after characterization it was conformed Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. The optimum incubation period for inulinase production was determined with different time intervals from 12- 72 hours. The effect of temperature on inulinase production was carried out at different temperatures ranging from 28^oC to 40^oC. The effect of pH on inulinase production was studied with pH ranging from pH 5-9. The study extended to carbon and nitrogen source for inulinase production yielding the maximum enzyme activities. Protein profile analysis was performed in SDS- PAGE. The results revealed that inulinase enzyme were obtained from RI-7 and RI-10 resulted in one sharp band based on the molecular weight.  The study further extended to isolation genomic DNA for RI-7 and RI-10.