Subhash J Bhore1, Vijayan Komathi1, Kodi I Kandasamy2
1Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, AIMST University, Bedong Semeling Road, Semeling, Kedah, Malaysia.
2Department of Tissue Culture, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong, Selangor; Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation, Level 23, Menara Atlan, 161B, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
DOI: 10.4103/0976-9668.117022
ABSTRACT
Background: Nepenthes species are used in traditional medicines to treat various health ailments. However, we do not know which types of endophytic bacteria (EB) are associated with Nepenthes spp. Objective: The objective of this study was to isolate and to identify EB associated with Nepenthes spp. Materials and Methods: Surface-sterilized leaf and stem tissues from nine Nepenthes spp. collected from Peninsular Malaysia were used to isolate EB. Isolates were identified using the polymerase chain reaction-amplified 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence similarity based method. Results: Cultivable, 96 isolates were analyzed; and the 16S rDNA sequences analysis suggest that diverse bacterial species are associated with Nepenthes spp. Majority (55.2%) of the isolates were from Bacillus genus, and Bacillus cereus was the most dominant (14.6%) among isolates. Conclusion: Nepenthes spp. do harbor a wide array of cultivable endophytic bacteria.
Keywords: 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA), bacteria, diversity, endemic, endophytes, Malaysia, Nepenthes.
