Abstract

                                An aerobic, rod shaped, mesophilic, gram positive xylitol producing bacterial isolates were made from different enriched substrates. Xylose isomerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the interconversion of D-xylose and D-xylulose. The microbes producing xylulose from xylose via xylose isomerase enzyme were screened for the xylose isomerase activity based on 2, 3, 5-Triphenyl tetrazolium dye retention capacity. Among the fourteen isolates screened, only six isolates showed the positive results by retaining the dye of which XLY3 was the best. Phylogenetic and sequence analysis of 16SrRNA gene showed 98 % homology to Bacillus endophyticus

Key words : Microbial strains, XLY3, Xylose isomerase, 2, 3, 5-Triphenyl tetrazolium dye