Molecular Technique Identification Of The Microbial Population In Palm Oil Mill Effluent (Pome)

• Main Authors: Wei, Christy Chan Sien, Lau, Seng, Awang Ahmad Sallehin, Awang Husaini, Azham, Zulkharnain, Kasing, Apun, Leslie, Bilung, Micky, Vincent
• Format: E-Article
• Language: English
• Published: MOPB 2015
• Subjects: Q Science (General); SB Plant culture
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10707/1/NO%2084%20Molecular%20technique%20identification%20of%20the%20microbial%20population%20in%20palm%20oil%20mill%20effluent%20%28POME%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10707/; http://jopr.mpob.gov.my/molecular-technique-identification-of-the-microbial-population-in-palm-oil-mill-effluent-pome/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Bio­con­ver­sion of palm oil mill efflu­ent (POME) to gen­er­ate methane gas via anaer­o­bic diges­tion involves a con­sor­tium of microbes which are respon­si­ble in sev­eral steps of the biodegra­da­tion process. In this study, the micro­bial com­mu­nity from a selected POME was char­ac­terised via mol­e­c­u­lar tech­niques and through culture-based plat­ing in order to deter­mine their com­po­si­tion, and sub­se­quently under­stand their func­tion in the anaer­o­bic com­mu­nity. Genomic DNA of the micro­bial com­mu­nity was extracted using direct extrac­tion tech­nique, fol­lowed by PCR tar­get­ing the 16S rDNA region. Dis­tinct frag­ments of approx­i­mately 1100 bp in sizes were suc­cess­fully ampli­fied using PCR and cloned onto Escherichia coli XL-1 Blue. Upon sequenc­ing of the frag­ments, BLAST queries iden­ti­fied the bac­te­ria as Ther­moanaer­obac­terium sp. In addi­tion, two other bac­te­r­ial species were suc­cess­fully iso­lated from the POME by cul­tur­ing on DVS agar. The sequenc­ing result of these bac­te­r­ial iso­lates showed both iso­lates belonged to the Bacil­lus genus. By under­stand­ing the bac­te­r­ial com­mu­nity present in the POME, this will lead to the improve­ment of the anaer­o­bic diges­tion process to enhance the pro­duc­tion of bio­gas such as methane.