ISSN: 0973-7510
E-ISSN: 2581-690X
Salt lakes represent an extreme habitat for prokaryotes which tolerate significant concentration of NaCl. Many studies on screening and characterization of these microorganisms have been done, however, very little reported about urease producer halophilic bacteria. The present study aimed to isolate urease positive bacteria from Bahr Al-Milh Salt Lake, Karbala, Iraq. A total of 161 gram positive and 57 gram negative bacteria were found which one third of them showed the ability to produce urease. 16S rDNA sequencing analysis showed the isolated bacteria belong to genus Bacillus, Virgibacillus, Halobacillus and Staphylococcus. Further studies focusing on the enzyme structures and encoding genes are suggested.
Halophiles, Iraq, Urease, Screening.
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