The Northern Colours: Isolation and Characterisation of 4 Pigment-Producing Bacteria from the Arctic

Abstract

Due to the adverse effects of synthetic colours on human health and the environment, there is a rapid shift towards the use of colours from natural sources like plants and microorganisms. Many pigment-producing microorganisms are identified and isolated from extreme environments like glaciers, ice cores, marine surface waters, etc. In this study, we have isolated 4 distinct pigment-producing bacterial strains from an Arctic stone sample collected from the vicinity of the Indian Research Station Himadri (78{degrees}55'N 11{degrees}56'E), located at the International Arctic Research Base, Ny[A]lesund, Svalbard, Norway. Pigment production was optimised by identifying the right growth medium, temperature, pH, and incubation period. The morphological, cultural, and biochemical characteristics were identified using several experiments like Gram Staining, Catalase Test, Oxydative-Fermentative Test, etc. The objective of this study is to identify novel bacterial strains capable of producing distinct pigments for pharmaceutical and industrial applications.