In recent years, scientists have increasingly focused on the microbial diversity of high-altitude hot springs to explore the biotechnological applications of extremophiles. In this regard, a total of 107 thermophilic bacilli were isolated from 9 high-altitude mineralized geothermal springs (of temperatures ranging from 27.5 to 70 °C) located within the territory of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The isolated bacilli were phylogenetically profiled and studied for their potential to produce extracellular hydrolytic enzymes (protease, amylase, and lipase). The identification of isolates based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed their relationship to members of more than 22 distinct species, of 8 different genera, namely Aeribacillus, Anoxybacillus, Bacillus, Brevibacillus, Geobacillus, Parageobacillus, Paenibacillus and Ureibacillus. Bacillus licheniformis, Parageobacillus toebii and Anoxybacillus flavithermus were found to be the most abundant species in the springs that were studied. Some of the isolated bacilli shared less than 91–97% sequence identity with their closest match in GenBank, indicating that Armenian geothermal springs harbor novel bacilli, at least at the species level. 71% of the isolates actively produced at least one or more extracellular proteases, amylases, or lipases. In total, 22 strains (28.6%) were efficient producers of all three types of thermostable enzymes.

中文翻译：

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亚美尼亚和纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫的地热温泉：产生水解酶的嗜热杆菌的潜在来源。

近年来，科学家越来越关注高海拔温泉的微生物多样性，以探索极端微生物的生物技术应用。在这方面，从位于亚美尼亚和纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫境内的9个高海拔矿化地热温泉（温度范围为27.5至70°C）中总共分离出107个嗜热杆菌。对分离的杆菌进行系统发育分析，并研究其产生细胞外水解酶（蛋白酶，淀粉酶和脂肪酶）的潜力。分离株的基于16S rRNA基因序列的鉴定表明它们之间的关系，以超过22个不同物种的成员，8个不同的属，即Aeribacillus，Anoxybacillus，芽孢杆菌属，短芽孢杆菌，地芽孢杆菌，Parageobacillus，Paenibacillus和Ureibacillus。在所研究的温泉中，地衣芽孢杆菌，Toage的Parageobacillus toebii和黄杆菌Anoxybacillus flavithermus是最丰富的物种。一些分离的细菌与其在GenBank中最接近的匹配序列共享少于91-97％的序列同一性，这表明亚美尼亚地热泉至少在物种水平上具有新颖的细菌。71％的分离物主动产生至少一种或多种细胞外蛋白酶，淀粉酶或脂肪酶。总共有22个菌株（占28.6％）是这三种类型的热稳定酶的有效生产者。