Fatty acids and survival of bacteria in Hammam Pharaon springs, Egypt

Abstract

A great lack of knowledge of Hammam Pharaon's microbial community; the most famous hot spring in Sinai, Egypt, derived this work. Three different hyperthermophilic bacterial were isolated from vents in the area, where the temperature was above 80°C. Response Surface Methodology algorithm such as Central Composite Design determined the optimum cultivation conditions for these isolates. Accordingly, the best growth conditions were at 70°C and at neutral to slightly acidic pH values. The constructed phylogenetic tree built using the 16S rRNA gene sequences has shown that the isolated strains (HM101, HM102 and HM103) belong to Geobacillus, Rhodothermus and Thermus bacteria, respectively. The fatty acid profiles, an indicative of thermotolerance, dominated by the short chain Dodecanoic acid (Lauric acid; (12:0), which represented about 40% of the total fatty acid contents for each of the three isolates. The enzymatic capabilities of the three strains were determined and a-amylase was found to be the most prominent one. Our own data had led us to conclude that the length of the fatty acid chain and the degree of saturation could be species specific. Moreover, the biotechnological potentials of these local isolates could contribute to fighting viral diseases and/or improve their amylolytic activities for sugar industry; where thermotolerance is really an important factor.

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