Isolation of Biosurfactant Producing Bacteria From Oily Skin Areas of Small Animals

Background: Biosurfactants or microbial surfactants are surface-active biomolecules that are produced by a variety of microorganisms. They are a structurally diverse group of surface-active molecules and are highly sought after biomolecules for both present and future applications.
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to isolate and identify biosurfactant producing bacteria from the ear canal and inguinal areas (oily skin areas) of dogs and cats.
Materials and Methods: Eighty inguinal area and ear canal samples were collected from stray and owned dogs and cats (10 animals each, 20 samples) and screened for biosurfactant-producing bacteria using criteria such as hemolysis, oil spreading and E 24 emulsification index tests. The isolated strains were identified at genus level.
Results: 42 hemolytic bacterial strains (20 from dogs and 22 from cats) were isolated. The owned animal’s samples had a higher population of positive strains than the stray ones. In total 11 isolates (26. 2%) were positive for all examinations, out of these 9 (21. 1%) isolates belonged to owned animals. 9 isolates (out of 11) (82%) were gram positive of which 4 (44. 4%) were Bacillus spp. and 3 (27. 2%) Lactobacillus spp.
Conclusions: The results showed that biosurfactant producing bacteria are distributed in the oily skin areas of both dogs and cats. Further investigation into the composition of the biosurfactants and phylogenetic determination of biosurfactant producing bacteria is suggested.

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