Cultivable bacterial diversity of terrestrial thermal spring of Unkeshwar, India

Ten different thermotolerent bacteria were isolated from terrestrial thermal spring of Unkeshwar in Nanded district of Maharashtra (India). These isolates were characterized by morphological characters, microscopic features, biochemical pattern and  physiological attributes. These isolates were identified as Bacillus licheniformis (APP7), Bacillus megaterium (APP8), Actinobacillus hominis (APP9), Lysinibacillus sphaericus (APP10), Paenibacillus alvei (APP11), Bacillus simplex (APP12), Actinobacillus seminis (APP13), Pseudomonas fragii (APP14), Staphylococcus cohnii (APP15) and Streptococcus thermophilus (APP16). These isolates belonged to class Firmicutes and Gamma proteobacteria and showed production of biotechnologically important thermostable hydrolytic enzymes such as caseinase, amylase, gelatinase, urease and lipase.