TAXONOMICAL IDENTITY AND POLYSACCHARIDE PRODUCED BY Bacillus SPECIES ISOLATED FROM OLD AGED MEDICINAL DECOCTIONS

In Malay folk medicine, bacterial broth are used in treating diseases such as sore throat and fever. However, the characterisation and identification of the bacterial are not know. In the present study, the bacterial broth used as a decoction in Malay folk medicine was investigated. The polysaccharide-producing bacteria were isolated and characterised based on a series of morphological and biochemical assays. A total of 14 isolates tentatively identified as Bacillus spp. were further characterised using a PIBWin bacterial identification program. The identification revealed that the cocktail of bacteria belongs to species of Bacillus subtilis ssp. subtilis, Bacillus pumilis, Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus lincheniformis. Five out of 14 isolates, B. coagulans, B. subtilis ssp. subtilis, B. lincheniformis, and two Bacillus spp. were found to produce exo-polysaccharide under static culture conditions. B. coagulans produced the highest amount of polysaccharide followed by B. lincheniformis and B. subtilis ssp. Subtilis. Types of monosaccharide were tentatively identified using paper chromatography. B. coagulans possesses almost all types of monosaccharides, whereas in the other strains, lactose, raffinose, galactose, glucose, mannose, xylose and/or rhamnose were identified. The existence of monosaccharide between these isolates showed that the exo-polysaccharide produced by Bacillus spp. could possibly be utilised for medicinal purposes. In addition, the identified bacterial polysaccharide may also have a role in anti-bacterial responses to the traditional treatment approach.