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ISOLATION, IDENTIFICATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF BACITRACIN PRODUCED BY BACILLUS SP.

MUHAMMAD AWAIS, AAMER ALI SHAH, ABDUL HAMEED AND FARIHA HASAN^*

Abstract: Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus were isolated from soil and screened for the production of antibiotics by plate assay and then cultured in shake flask fermentation at 30^oC for further studies. Identification of antibiotics was done by paper chromatography. Bacitracin was found to be produced by both the strains against Micrococcus luteus (ATCC# 10240), whereas; Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC# 6538) proved to be resistant to Bacitracin produced by Bacillus pumilus. The maximum production of Bacitracin from B. subtilis and B. pumilus against Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus at different pH (6-9), incubation time (0-144 hours) and glucose concentration (1-5%) was checked by agar diffusion assay as detected by the size of zones of inhibition. Maximum zones of inhibition were observed at pH 8, 5% glucose and after 24 hours of incubation at 30^oC against Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus.

Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

^*Corresponding author: Email: farihahasan@yahoo.com