Cellulolytic Bacillus species isolated from the gut of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria

Abstract

The ability of many insects to thrive on wood, foliage, and detritus has stimulated an interest on the potential use of gut microbial flora of such species as a bioresource for industrial conversion of cheap cellulosic material into bioproducts. In this study, the capacity of intestinal flora from the gut of Schistocerca gregaria to degrade cellulose model compound was investigated. Two Bacillus species were isolated, their cellulose degradation capacity determined by zone clearance assay on agar plates and later identified by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. The two isolates had relatively high cellulolytic activity with ICA (Index Cellulolytic Activities) values of 1.146 ± 0.109 and 0.8442 ± 0.09203, and were identified as Bacillus safensis strain MED1 and Bacillus safensis strain CACO respectively. The 16S rDNA sequences were deposited to GenBank under accession numbers JQ 837242.1 and JQ 837243.1.