Studies on photosynthetic bacteria isolated from an estuarine beach of Goa

Abstract

A bacterial strain capable of fixing CO2 was isolated from an estuarine beach of Goa, India. The strain grew in sea water containing a piece of boiled egg under anaerobic condition and in the presence of subdued sunlight or fluorescent illumination. The strain was gram negative and varied from spiral to Y shape. It had no sulphur deposit either inside or outside the cells and produced purple pigment. Based on these studied, it was inferred that the isolate belongs to the family Athiorhodaceae (non-sulphur purple bacteria). It had a characteristic absorption maximum at 850 nm which is a general feature of purple bacteria. The optimum pH for this strain was 7. Effect of different organic substances, nitrogenous compounds, and pollutants CO2 fixation by this isolate was also studied