Characterization of high fluoride resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa species isolated from water samples

Abstract

Groundwater fluoride contamination is one of the dominant toxicological environmental problems in India and overseas. Water samples were taken from Natham taluk and screened the fluoride resistant bacteria. Initially, Twenty- four fluoride resistant colonies were selected from 50 mM NaF supplemented LB agar plates. All isolates showed β-haemolysis on blood agar plates, confirmed as pathogens. Virulence factors (algD, plcH, toxA, gyrB, rhlC, lasB) and biofilm-forming genes (ppyR, pelA, pslA) were identified in these isolates by PCR analysis. Fluoride ion transporter ‘crcB’ was successfully amplified from these isolates by gene-specific PCR. Genus Pseudomonas and P. aeruginosa species-specific PCR analysis identified that all strains belonging to P. aeruginosa species. Besides, three high fluoride resistance strains were selected based on high fluoride resistance and confirmed as P. aeruginosa species by 16S rRNA sequencing and NCBI blast analysis.