Isolation and characterization of thermophilic bacteria in Jeli hot spring

This thesis presents an approach to identify and characterize the microbial community that exists in Jeli Hot Spring, Jeli, Kelantan Darul Naim. The identification need to be done to identify the kind of organisms that grow in the hot spring. The physical characteristic of Jell Hot Spring water was about 40-50°C at pH of between six and eight. The optimum temperature at the Jeli Hot Spring indicates the presence of thermophilic organism since this kind of organism able to live in the extreme environment where other type of organism and bacteria was unable to live in. There were some test carried out to identify the type of thermophilic bacteria which were carried out in morphological, physiological and biochemical test. Ten tests were conducted in order to identify the types of bacteria and determine the characteristic of that organism. The tests that had been done are Gram stain test, endospore test, motility test, biochemical test which consist of oxidase test, oxidation-fermentation test, catalase test, starch agar test, effect of temperature, effect of sodium chloride concentration and lastly the effect of pH on the growth of the thermophilic organism. From the result of the tests, the identity of the organism could be determined and from the characteristic that has been observed from the test, it showed the general structure and microbial activity of this organism. This study can be used for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using the Tag polymerase enzyme in biotechnology area. As for agricultural activity, the thermophilic bacteria are the one that withstand the high temperature during the production of manure and also the rotting of fruit. Apart from that, the organism that lives in hot spring lives in a sulphur environment, which indicates the ability of the organism to degrade the sulphur inside the hot spring to be used for respiration. The ability of these sulphur degrading organisms, it can be applied in agricultural activity which improving organism inside the soil by improving the DNA structure of organism inside the soil to reduce the sulphur exist in the environment to be applicable to the soil.