Isolation and Identification of New Strains of Bacteria Producing Carotenoids Pigments which Isolated from a Different Sources in Basrah, Iraq

Carotenoids are tetraterpenoid organic pigments found in plants, bacteria, fungi, and algae, and come in a variety of colours including yellow, orange, red, and pink, fund all of these organisms, carotenoids can be complex lipids and other metabolic components. Carotenoids are used in a variety of ways, including as antioxidants, antibacterial agents, and food additives.The present study included the isolation of bacteria producing carotenoids pigments that isolated from different sources (soil, food and air) in Basrah, Iraq. Results showed, that out of 24 isolates isolated from above sources which can be produce carotenoids. Ten of those isolates were gave the highest productivity of pigments. Morphological, biochemical, and gene investigations were performed on all 10 isolates. The 16SrRNA sequence analysis of all isolates was recorded as new strains and put in the BDDJ Gene Bank, and the phylogenetic tree of the isolates was constructed using MEGA 6 software. Those strains that are the primary screening for carotenoids production.Bacterial isolates were characterized and identified based on phenotypic properties and molecular techniques. five strains, belonging to genera  of Plantibacter flavus BKA3, Sphingobacteruim faccium BKA4, Stenotrophomonas pavanii BKA5, Microbacteruim keltanolyticum BKA6, Brachybacteruim muris BKA12, were isolated from soil and four strains, belonging to genera of Kocuria turfanesis BKA8, Kocuria  rosea BKA10, Massilia timonae BKA11, were isolated from air, the strain Pseudomonase cani BkA13 and P. fluorescens BKA2, isolated from food. The carotenoid was extracted by methanol solvent and it’s analyzed by spectrophotometric within 400-600nm and wave length maximum was found at 460nm. The results showed the isolate of K. turfanesis BKA8, reached a height of carotenoid content of 753.11g.gm-1 after 72 hours of shaking culture at 150 rpm in nutrient broth at 27˚C, pH 7.