Isolation and Characterization of Calcite Forming Bacteria from Various Environments in Korea

Abstract

Microbially induced calcite precipitation is a naturally occurring biological process in which microbes produce calcite on the surface of the microorganisms by urease activity. In order to collect calcite forming bacteria (CFB) in Korea, we isolated 343 putative CFB strains from various environments over three year period (2011~2013) and selected 100 CFB strains. Average of calcite productivity was 10.56 mg/ mL. And average of ammonium concentration by urease activity was 8.00 µM. Two useful CFB strains of the others were analyzed by 16S rRNA and identified as Sporosarcina sp. and Viridibacillus arenosi. The CFB strains presented in this study are indigenous microorganisms in Korea and they are expected to be applicable to a variety of environments in the country.