The Identification of Chromobacterium violaceum From Soil Based on The Production of Violacein

Abstract

Chromobacterium violaceum is a purple coloured pathogenic bacterium mainly found in stagnant water and soil. Isolation and identification of this pathogenic bacteria are very important especially in biological science research and clinical field. It was easily identified by the production of purple coloured pigment violacein based on the solubility, colour reaction, spectrophotometry and growth temperature of C. violaceum. The density of C. violaceum found in 5 g of soil was much higher after rainy day which was about 7 X 107 located at 2°59'09.5"N 101°43'33.2"E and 1 X 107 located at 2°58'56.3"N 101°43'15.2"E compared to normal sunny day with only 6 X 105 and 9 X 104 in respectively at the same locations. The soils samples were collected 0-5 cm depth from the soil surface because of the facultative anaerobic where the C. violaceum from underground was more incline go to the top of soil since the concentration of oxygen was higher at the top.