Identification and Characterization of Biosurfactant-producing Novel Paenibacillus dendritiformis Strain ANSKLAB02 from Brackish River Water

Introduction: Biosurfactants are the surface-active reagents produced by microorgan-isms, which exhibit the non-toxic and augmented bioavailability potential for the decomposition of petro-based pollutants and performing microbial-enhanced oil recovery (MEOR). Methods: Thus, the present study entails the isolation of a novel biosurfactant-producing bacteria in MSM medium containing crude oil as a sole carbon source. Biosurfactant screening, cultural, and statistical optimization; Plackett - Burman Design, and response surface methodology (RSM) in conjunction with the Box-Behnken experimental design was employed for examining the bio-surfactant producing potential, and emulsification activity of the Paenibacillus strain, which ren-dered a maximum E24 index as 70%, with reduced surface tension of 29 mN/m. Result: The novel isolate was identified and named Paenibacillus dendritiformis strain AN-SKSLAB02 and the sequence was deposited in the NCBI-GenBank database with accession num-ber “KU518891”. Conclusion: The results signify that the bacterium holds the potential to burgeon in harsh condi-tions which is an appropriate habitat for application in MEOR, which has great potential to aid in environmental cleanup.