Due to their vast industrial potential, cellulases have been regarded as the potential biocatalysts by both the academicians and the industrial research groups. In the present study, culturable bacterial strains of Himalayan Urban freshwater lake were investigated for cellulose degrading activities. Initially, a total of 140 bacterial strains were isolated and only 45 isolates were found to possess cellulose degrading property. On the basis of preliminary screening involving cellulase activity assay on CMC agar (with clear zone of hydrolysis) and biosafety assessment testing, only single isolate named as BKT-9 was selected for the cellulase production studies. Strain BKT-9 was characterized at the molecular level using rRNA gene sequencing and its sequence homology analysis revealed its identity as Aneurinibacillus aneurinilyticus. Further, various physico-chemical parameters and culture conditions were optimized using one factor approach to enhance cellulase production levels in the strain BKT-9. Subsequently, RSM based statistical optimization led to formulation of cellulase production medium, wherein the bacterial strain exhibited ~60 folds increase in enzyme activity as compared to un-optimized culture medium. Further studies are being suggested to scale up cellulase production in A. aneurinilyticus strain BKT-9 so that it can be utilized for biomass saccharification at an industrial level.

由于其巨大的工业潜力，纤维素酶被院士和工业研究团体视为潜在的生物催化剂。在本研究中，研究了喜马拉雅城市淡水湖可培养细菌菌株的纤维素降解活性。最初共分离出140株细菌，仅发现45株具有纤维素降解特性。在对CMC琼脂（具有清晰水解区）的纤维素酶活性测定和生物安全性评估测试进行初步筛选的基础上，仅选择命名为BKT-9的单一菌株进行纤维素酶生产研究。使用 rRNA 基因测序在分子水平上对菌株 BKT-9 进行了表征，其序列同源性分析揭示了其与溶动脉神经杆菌的身份。此外，使用单因素方法优化了各种物理化学参数和培养条件，以提高菌株 BKT-9 中的纤维素酶生产水平。随后，基于 RSM 的统计优化导致了纤维素酶生产培养基的配制，其中与未优化的培养基相比，细菌菌株的酶活性增加了约 60 倍。建议进一步研究扩大溶神经放线菌菌株 BKT-9 的纤维素酶产量，以便将其用于工业水平的生物质糖化。