Thermophiles harbored in geothermal springs distributed on the territory of Armenia and Nagorno- Karabakh and their biotechnological potential

Organization Yerevan State University

Director: Hovik Panosyan

Country/countries of implementation: Armenia

Geographical coverage: local

Source: Ministry of Education and Science of RA

Start Date: 2015-11-12

End Date: 2017-10-12

Website http://ysu.am/science/en/1463489353

Keywords microbial community geothermal springs Armenia Nagorno- Karabakh

Description

The study of the biodiversity of thermophilic microbes and development of the new biotechnologies based on thermophiles are prospective direction of nowadays research and biotechnological industry. Thermophilic microbes widely spraed in geothermal springs. Numerous geothermal springs were found on the territory of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, microbial community of which has not been thoroughly studied yet. They represent a challenge for searching of new biotechnological resources. The purpose of the presented project is to study bacterial and archaeal biodiversity of geothermal springs distributed on the territory of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh based on both culture-dependent and molecular methods. The isolation and identification of aerobic endospore-forming and asporogen thermophilic microbes, as well as the selection of prospective producers of hydrolytic enzymes (amylase, lipase producers) with biotechnological potency will be carried out. The successful outcome is promising to get novel information of microbial community structure of geothermal springs and its biotechnological potential. The possible application of new isolated enzyme producers could improve the dialogue between science and industry in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

Participants Hovik Panosyan Armine Margaryan , Ani Saghatelyan , Grigor Shahinyan ,