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. 2010:10:107.
doi: 10.1673/031.010.10701.

Isolation and characterization of bacteria from the gut of Bombyx mori that degrade cellulose, xylan, pectin and starch and their impact on digestion

A Alwin Prem Anand  1 , S John Vennison, S Gowri Sankar, D Immanual Gilwax Prabhu, P Thirumalai Vasan, T Raghuraman, C Jerome Geoffrey, S Ezhil Vendan
Affiliations

Isolation and characterization of bacteria from the gut of Bombyx mori that degrade cellulose, xylan, pectin and starch and their impact on digestion

A Alwin Prem Anand et al. J Insect Sci. 2010.

Abstract

Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) have been domesticated and widely used for silk production. It feeds on mulberry leaves. Mulberry leaves are mainly composed of pectin, xylan, cellulose and starch. Some of the digestive enzymes that degrade these carbohydrates might be produced by gut bacteria. Eleven isolates were obtained from the digestive tract of B. mori, including the Gram positive Bacillus circulans and Gram negative Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Serratia liquefaciens, Enterobacter sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. aeruginosa, Aeromonas sp., and Erwinia sp.. Three of these isolates, P. vulgaris, K. pneumoniae, C. freundii, were cellulolytic and xylanolytic, P. fluorescens and Erwinia sp., were pectinolytic and K. pneumoniae degraded starch. Aeromonas sp. was able to utilize the CMcellulose and xylan. S. liquefaciens was able to utilize three polysaccharides including CMcellulose, xylan and pectin. B. circulans was able to utilize all four polysaccharides with different efficacy. The gut of B. mori has an alkaline pH and all of the isolated bacterial strains were found to grow and degrade polysaccharides at alkaline pH. The number of cellulolytic bacteria increases with each instar.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Plate showing cellulose degrading bacteria. High quality figures are available online.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Enumeration of bacteria from the digestive tract of Bombyx mori with total number of bacteria and total cellulolytic bacteria with respect to the different larval stages (given in CFU/ml). High quality figures are available online.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Enzyme activity of isolated and characterized bacterial strains. High quality figures are available online.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Enzyme activity of selected bacterial strains at different pH. (FPCellulase and 1,4-β endoglucanase - Serratia liquefaciens, 1,4-β xylanase and α-amylase - Bacillus circulans, pectin methyl esterase and polygalactouranase - Erwinia sp,). High quality figures are available online.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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