Diversity and Relevance of Methanotroph in Lonar Lake

Abstract

Methanotrophic bacteria were identified and characterised from sediment samples taken from the alkaline Lonar Lake. Four strains were obtained using low salt media to explore the methanotrophs of Lonar Lake, and a bacterial strain was chosen for further characterisation and screening based on temperature and salt tolerance. Bacterial isolates were characterised morphologically, biochemically, and by 16S rRNA sequencing. Isolates from the phylum proteobacteria include Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria from various genera such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Achromobactor, and Ochromobactrum. These findings clearly demonstrated that the Lonar lake ecosystem contains unexplored methanotrophs.