Exploration of levan producer bacteria from Mangrove Forest and Salt Pond Patuguran Pasuruan East Java

Levan is a fructooligosaccharide (fructan) homopolymer that can be produced by microorganisms. Levan has non-toxic character. It does not cause allergies and is easily absorbed by the body. Thus, it has been widely used in numerous application such food, cosmetic and pharmacy industry. The present study focused on an exploration of levan- producing bacteria from the mangrove and salt ponds of Patuguran, Pasuruan, East Java. Screening of extracellular levan- producing bacteria was performed by growing bacterial isolates on a sucrose medium with incubating temperature at 37 °C for 19 hours. The bacteria that have the potential in levan production were indicated by the secretion of viscous mucus on the incubation medium. To support this data, further selection of most potential levan producer was carried out based on the levan sucrase activity measurement. Moreover, in order to identify the species of potential isolate, the analysis of 16s rRNA was also carried out. The result of this study exhibited that L-MPP-3 were found to be the most potential bacteria for extracellular production of levan. The activity of levan sucrase produced by this isolate was about 1.163 unit/mL. This isolate has the similarity with Staphylococcus epidermidis about 99.72%.