Archana Rana

Enzymatic Potential of Halophiles from Little Rann of Kutch Archana Rana

Halophiles are heterogenous and large group of salt loving extremophiles, found in saline habitats. They commonly inhabit the marine environment, esturine, and the salt deserts. Little Rann of Kutch (Kutch desert) is believed to have been a shallow sea and comparatively unexplored field from microbial diversity point of view. The Rann of Kutch is an area of 18,000 square km situated within state of Gujarat in India. Halophilic enzymes like lipases, amylases, proteases, cellulases, DNases, pullalanases etc. have their wide sale applications in industries such as food industry, feed additive, biomedical sciences and chemical industries. Emphasis is given on their population dynamics and molecular phylogeny along with their biotechnological novelty. Current emphasis is given on study of enzymatic potential of moderate and extreme halophiles from little rann of Kutch.