Isolation and Characterization of Cellulase Roducing Bacteria from Termite Gut

Lignocelluloses are the most abundant organic compound in the nature. The cellulosic waste can be used as a potential source of Bio-energy. For the conversion of cellulosic waste to a fuel source, the complex structure of cellulose has to be broken and the glucose monomers obtained can be fermented to bio-ethanol the methods present today are chemicals and enzymatic method. Chemicals methods are expensive and their wastes are proving to be a potential hazard to the environment. On the other hand enzymatic processes are comparatively slow; therefore there commercial application is not feasible. The plants and tree have evolved over millions of years to perfect their structural components. They are so evolved that their degradation is difficult and this is attributed due to their cell wall. However several species of fungi and bacteria have developed a method to penetrate into this complex network of Lignin and hemicelluloses and consequently degrade the cellulose. In the present study soil samples from different areas of P.U and wood samples from degraded tree trunk and rotten wood furniture were picked up and were isolated and purified on a media having cellulose as a sole source of carbon. The morphologically different colonies were tested for the cellulytic activity using CMCase test and top 4 strains were selected for further tests.