SALWA AL-THAWADI, KAREEMA SALEH, AFNAN FREIJE, ALI BIN THANI AND AYSHA AL-KAABI
Abstract
Fermented fresh Sardinella albella paste is a popular Middle East fish product found in the traditional dishes and known as âTareehâ. In this study, a gram-positive, facultative, rod, encapsulated, catalase negative, oxidase negative, endospore -forming, motile and halophilic bacterium was isolated from âTareehâ. In addition, the isolated bacterium was positive for protease, amylase, gelatinase and lipase. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry examination revealed that the strain was a member of the family Bacillaceae, belonged to Bacillus genus and was closely related to Bacillus subtilis. Further identification tested by16S rDNA gene sequence analysis has confirmed the identity of the isolate. This isolate was found to be closely related to B. mojavensis. The strain is considered to be a new species in the Bacillus species, of which the name Bacillus mojavensis-ASK is proposed by the authors. It is responsible for the desaturation and elongation of fatty acid chains in a unique pattern during its growth. The percentage of the identified fatty acids and fatty acid types varied widely among the fermented fish samples over the time period of the study. An increase in the polyunsaturated fatty acids was confirmed throughout this study as unusual and unique metabolic pathway in prokaryotes.