LAUSR

The marine environment is highly susceptible to pollution by oil spillages and hence become an importance source for screening potential lipolytic microorganisms capable of degrading hydrocarbons. In addition to their salt tolerance, enzymes from halophiles can withstand and carry out reactions very much efficiently under extreme operational conditions encountered in industrial processes. In the present investigation, an extracellular lipase producing fungal organisms were screened and isolated from marine water samples collected from Manginapudi beach at Machilipatnam, Krishna district, A.P. India. Among 15 species of fungi isolated, 5 dominant fungi were selected to study their lipase producing activity. The extracellular lipase secreted in to the minimal salt broth was assayed both by qualitative screening method such as phenol red agar plate method and quantitative titrimetric method. Of the 5 dominant fungal isolates, Engyodontium sp. was found to produce maximum lipase, 7.2 U/mL compared to other fungal members. Since there is growing demand for lipases, rapid and persistent screening for microorganisms will open new insights for novel enzymes to be used for various synthetic processes and as well provides faster ways to solve many environmental problems. The present study gains its importance in view of this.