Isolation of biosurfactant producing bacteria from poultry breast skin

Background: biosurfactants are surface-active compounds produced by some microorganisms. objectives: in this study,we collected surface skin samples from breast of poultry (chicken,turkey,and,quail) and screened for biosurfactant-producing bacteria. we also determined the genera of cultured strains. materials and methods: 33 hemolytic bacterial strains (15,11,and 7 isolates from chicken,turkey,and quail,respectively) were isolated; oil spreading (os) and bioemulsifying activities were measured for all isolates. results: two isolates of chicken (6.06%),three of turkey (9.1%),and three of quail (9.1%) were positive in all examinations (hemolysis,emulsification index (e24) and oil spreading). in total,eight isolates (24.24%) were positive in all examinations,out of them,seven isolates (87.5%) were gram positives,mainly belonged to bacillus spp.,staphylococcus spp. and lactobacillus spp. 31 isolates (93.9%) (out of 33 hemolytic isolates) were positive in oil spreading test while only eight isolates (24.24%) were positive in e24 test,. conclusions: the results showed that biosurfactant-producing bacteria are distributed in breast skin surface of examined birds. further investigation about the composition of biosurfactants and phylogenetic determination of biosurfactant producing bacteria is suggested. © 2012 school of pharmacy,ahvaz jundishapur university of medical sciences.