Screening of bacteria from sediments of coastal ecosystem, as potential sources of alpha linolenic acid

Abstract

Marine bacteria, known to produce wide range of molecules that are beneficial to animals as well as to human beings, were screened for the presence of alpha linolenic acid (9,12,15-octadeca trienioc acid). The lipid and protein concentrations of predominant bacterial isolates, obtained from coastal marine sediment were determined. Out of twenty isolates, eight bac-terial isolates with higher lipid – protein ratio (more than 0.5), were grown in mineral salt medium with sodium acetate as carbon source as well as in nutrient broth. Their lipid (triglyceride, sterol, fatty acid, glycolipid and phospholipid) and fatty acid (mainly C-18 series) profiles were analyzed. Only four bacterial isolates depicted significant conversion efficacy for al-pha linolenic acid (more than 25%) when they were grown in sodium acetate media. Such bacteria can be used as supple-ment to enrich the animal feed with the required fatty acid.