International Journal of Scientific Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2(7), pp.

159-165, 2015
Available online at http://www.ijsrpub.com/ijsras
ISSN: 2345-6795; 2015; Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
http://dx.doi.org/10.12983/ijsras-2015-p0159-0165

Full Length Research Paper

Isolation and Screening of Amylolytic Bacteria from Soil

Arun Kumar Sharma1, Vinay Sharma1*, Jyoti Saxena2, Rashmi Chandra1, Afroz Alam1, Anand Prakash1
1
Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Rajasthan, India
2
Department of Biochemical Engineering, Bipin Tripathi Kumaon Institute of Technology, Dwarahat, Uttrakhand
*Corresponding Author: vinaysharma30@yahoo.co.uk

Received 03 September 2015; Accepted 25 October 2015

Abstract. The remarkable stability and cost effectiveness of the microbial enzymes are well suited for industrial uses.
Amylases are the most widely used industrial enzymes of extracellular origin, extracted from microbial sources. Certain
industries (food, textile, fermentation and paper) demand for starch degrading bacteria to fulfill various applications. Thus,
isolating cultures of amylolytic bacteria from soil samples is very important for various industries. The soil could be ideal
habitats for amylolytic bacteria, therefore soil samples were collected from two different sites of Banasthali University and
were used in the present investigation. Bacteria from soil were isolated using serial dilution agar plate technique. Bacterial
isolates appeared on agar plates were screened on starch agar medium plates for qualitative assay of amylase production.
Amylase production was confirmed by the presence of clear zone (zone of starch hydrolysis) around bacterial streaked lines
after flooding the starch agar plates with Grams iodine solution. Based on the results of qualitative assay, 6 bacterial isolates
were used for quantitative assay of amylase production in fermentation broth. It was found that one bacterial isolate (no. 3 of
sample 2) was producing maximum amylase activity (196.26 U/mL) and another one bacterial isolate (no. 1 of sample 1) was
producing minimum amylase activity (60.13 U/mL) after 3 days of incubation.

Keywords: Amylase, amylolytic bacteria, bacterial isolates, zone of hydrolysis, enzyme activity.

1. INTRODUCTION reducing end yielding glucose (Khan and Priya,

Amylase is present in human saliva, where it starts the
digestion of starch. Food such as potato and rice that
contains a large amount of starch, but less sugar, taste
slightly sweet as they are chewed because amylase
catalyze hydrolysis of starch into sugars. Amylase was
the first enzyme to be discovered as diastase enzyme
by Anselme Payen in 1833. Soluble starch is broken
down by amylases and end products such as glucose
or maltose are absorbed into their cells for energy
production (Sudharhsan et al., 2007).
The enzymes of amylase family have a great
importance due to its broad area of potential
applications in various industries such as textile,
baking, food, paper, brewing and detergent. Amylases
can be classified into two classes, endoamylases (-
amylase) and exoamylases (glucoamylase). -amylase
catalyze hydrolysis of -1,4-glucosidic linkages in the
interior of starch molecule in a random manner
producing branched and linear oligosaccharides
(dextrin, maltose, maltotriose, glucose) of different
chain length while glucoamylases catalyze hydrolysis
of -1,4- and -1,6-glucosidic linkages in starch
molecule (amylase and amylopectin) from its non
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2011). Amylases are produced by a variety of living
organisms, ranging from prokaryotes (bacteria) to
eukaryotes (plants and humans). They have been
extracted from several microorganisms including
yeast, bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi, however
amylase, extracted from bacteria and fungi have
dominated various applications in biotechnology
based industries. Many microorganisms have the
potential to produce amylases including B.
licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium,
Bacillus steriothermophilus, Lactobacillus sp.,
Proteus sp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas sp.,
Strepotmyces sp., etc. (Pokhrel et al., 2013).
Approximately 3000 enzymes are known today but
only few enzymes have been exploited in industries.
These are chiefly extracellular hydrolytic enzymes,
which degrade natural polymers such as proteins,
cellulose, pectin and starch into simpler monomers
(Alaria et al., 2013). Amylases are imperative
enzymes for their use in the starch processing
industries for the conversion of polysaccharides
(starch) into monosacharides (glucose). In the food
industry, starch degrading enzymes have a large
number of applications, such as the production of high
 Sharma et al.
Isolation and Screening of Amylolytic Bacteria from Soil
fructose corn syrup, glucose syrup, maltose, reduction
of turbidity to produce clarified fruit juice for longer
shelf-life, reduction of viscosity of sugar syrups,
solubilisation and saccharification of starch.
Saccharification of starch by enzymatic process has
several benefits over conventional chemical process
(Karnwal and Nigam, 2013). These increased uses of
amylase for starch hydrolysis have placed more stress
on increasing indigenous production of it. The major
advantages of using microorganisms for the
production of amylases is their ability to produce it in
large quantity and microbes can be easily manipulated
to obtain an enzyme of desired properties (Sharma et
al., 2015). Amylase producing bacteria are widely
present in nature. These amylolytic bacteria can be
easily screened and tested in laboratory condition for
the production of amylase (Pokhrel et al., 2013).
Isolation and characterization of new amylolytic
microbial strains is a continuous process (Alaria et al.,
2013). Several reports on starch hydrolytic
microorganisms from different sources are available.
Soil receiving the kitchen waste contamination is one
of the major source for isolation of amylolytic
microorganisms because kitchen waste are rich source
of starchy substrate (Aiba et al., 1983; Tonkova et al.,
1993; Kathiresan and Manivannan, 2006)
In the present study, two soil samples were used
for isolation and screening of different hyperactive
amylase producing bacteria. The isolated hyperactive
amylolytic bacteria can be further used for amylase
production using submerged fermentation.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1. Sample collection
Soil samples 1 and 2, used for the screening of
amylolytic bacteria were collected from botanical
garden and medicinal plant garden of Banasthli
University, respectively. Soil samples were collected
randomly from superficial layer of soil using spatula
and transferred in sterile poly bags, labeled with date
and site of collection. Samples were brought to the
laboratory and stored in freeze at 4 C till their
processing.
2.2. Isolation of bacteria
Bacteria from soil samples were isolated using serial
dilution agar plate technique reported by Kader et al.
(1999). One gram of each soil sample was mixed
with 9 mL of sterile distilled water and it was serially
diluted up to 10-6 fold dilution. 0.1 mL of each dilution
was inoculated in the nutrient agar medium (NAM)
plates using the spread plate method and NAM plates
were incubated at 37 C for 2 days. Slants of bacterial
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isolates were prepared on nutrient agar medium (g/L)
containing: beef extract 3; Peptone 5; NaCl 5; agar 15;
distilled water 1000 mL. Slants were maintained at
4C.
2.3. Screening of amylase producing bacteria
Isolated bacterial colonies, which were maintained at
4 C, were screened for evaluating their amylolytic
potential by inoculating them in a starch agar plate
(g/L) containing: peptone 5; Peptone 5; beef extract 3;
soluble starch 2; agar 15; distilled water 1000 mL
(Pillai et al., 2010). Inoculated plates were incubated
at 37 C for 3 days. After 3 days of incubation starch
degrading bacteria were identified by flooding the
plates with Grams iodine solution (1 g of iodine
crystals and 2.0 g of potassium iodide were dissolved
in 100 mL of distilled water, stored at room
temperature). Starch reacted with iodine to form a
dark blue starch-iodine complex that covered the
entire agar. The positive colonies demonstrated a
region of clear zone of hydrolysis around the colonies
when flooded with grams iodine solution. The
negative colonies showed no zone of hydrolysis
around them against a blue-black coloration on starch
agar (Alfred, 2007).
2.4. Production of amylase enzyme by bacterial
isolates using submerged fermentation
2.4.1. Preparation of inoculum
Bacteria from their respective slants were inoculated
with 100 mL of Luria broth under aseptic environment
of the laminar air flow chamber and incubated in a
shaker incubator at 37 C, 120 rpm for 24 h. After 24 h
of incubation, growth (turbidity) was appeared in
inoculated broth and it was used as a source of
inoculum.
2.4.2. Transferring bacterial culture in production
medium
From Luria broth culture, 1 mL of inoculum was
transferred in 100 mL of production medium (g/L)
containing: starch 10; peptone 10; yeast extract 20;
KH2PO4 0.05; MnCl2.4H2O 0.015; CaCl2.2H2O 0.05;
FeSO4.7H2O 0.01; MgSO4.7H2O 0.25 (Hamilton et al.,
1999). The inoculated flasks were placed in a shaker
incubator at 37 C, 120 rpm for 3 days.
2.5. Extraction of enzyme from bacterial
fermentation broth
Two mL of bacterial fermentation broth was taken
into a centrifuge tube and it was centrifuged at 8000
 International Journal of Scientific Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2(7), pp. 159-165, 2015

rpm, 4 C for 15 minutes. After centrifugation, the
bacterial cell pellet was removed and bacteria free
supernatant was used as a source of crude enzyme.
2.6. Demonstration of enzyme activity
Amylase activity in the crude enzyme extract was
determined by estimation of reducing sugar (maltose)
liberated by the action of amylase on soluble starch.
Reducing sugars were estimated by dinitrosalicylic
acid (DNS) method (Bernfield, 1955; Ogundero,
1979, 1982 a, b; Ettalibi and Barratti, 1988). The
amylase activity was determined as described earlier
by Irfan et al., 2011. Two test tubes were taken and
labeled as a test (T) and a blank (B). One mL of 1%
starch solution (prepared in 20 mM sodium phosphate
buffer, pH 6.9) was added in both test tubes and test
tubes were placed at 37 C for 5 minutes. One mL of
crude enzyme extract was added in T-test tube and
incubated at 37 C for 30 minutes for enzymatic
reaction to occur. The reaction was stopped by
addition of 1 mL of coloring reagent (Dinitrosalicylic
acid solution) in both test tubes. One mL of crude
enzyme extract was added to the blank test tube to
bring the total volume to 3 mL. Both test tubes were
placed in boiling water bath for 10-15 minutes for the
development of brown color. Test tubes were cooled
and 9 mL of distilled water was added in both the test
tubes. Absorbance of brown color compound was
measured at 540 nm against the reagent blank using
maltose standard curve. The enzyme activity (U/mL)
was calculated by following formula (Pillai et al.,
2010).

(30 min)

One unit of enzyme was defined as the amount of starch in 1 minute of reaction time at 37 C, pH 6.9.
enzyme require to release 1.0 g of maltose from All experiments were carried out in triplicates.

Plate 1; Figures 1-9:- Fig 1 and 2: Zone of hydrolysis on starch agar medium by bacterial isolate no. 1 of sample 1; Fig 3 and
4: Zone of hydrolysis on starch agar medium by bacterial isolate no. 2 of sample 1; Fig 5 and 6: Zone of hydrolysis on starch
agar medium by bacterial isolate no. 3 of sample 1; Fig 7: Zone of hydrolysis on starch agar medium by bacterial isolate no. 1
of sample 2; Fig 8: Zone of hydrolysis on starch agar medium by bacterial isolate no. 2 of sample 2; Fig 9: Zone of hydrolysis
on starch agar medium by bacterial isolate no. 3 of sample 2.

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 Sharma et al.
Isolation and Screening of Amylolytic Bacteria from Soil
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Bacteria were isolated from two different soil
samples. Out of the total isolates, 8 bacterial isolates
were tested for amylase production in starch agar plate
and based on the results of primary screening, 6
bacterial isolates were tested for quantitative amylase
assays. The best isolate with highest amylase activity
was identified.
3.1. Screening of amylolytic bacteria
The amylolytic (starch degradation) activities of
bacterial isolates were evaluated using starch agar
medium and it was expressed as appearance of clear
zone (zone of starch hydrolysis) around bacterial
streaked lines. Eight bacterial isolates were screened
for extracellular starch degradation activity and out of
them six bacterial isolates were found positive. The
results of the screening are given in Plate 1, where
figures 1 and 2 represent zone of hydrolysis on starch
agar plate by bacterial isolate no. 1 (soil sample 1).
Figures 3 and 4 represent zone of hydrolysis on starch
agar plate by bacterial isolate no. 2 (sample 1).
Figures 5 and 6 represent zone of hydrolysis on starch
agar plate by bacterial isolate no. 3 (sample 1).
Figures 7, 8 and 9 demonstrate zone of starch
hydrolysis on starch agar plate by bacterial isolate
nos. 1, 2 and 3 respectively of sample 2.
Earlier, Khan and Priya (2011) also collected soil
samples and performed screening on nutrient agar
Table 1: Amylase activity from bacterial isolates after 3 days of incubation.
Soil sample Bacterial isolates OD at 540nm
1 Bacterial isolate no. 1 0.902
Bacterial isolate no. 2 1.036
Bacterial isolate no. 3 1.196
2 Bacterial isolate no. 1 1.609
Bacterial isolate no. 2 1.788
Bacterial isolate no. 3 2.944
3.2. Production and measurement of amylase
activity
The aim of the present study was to select the
bacterial isolates with high potential of amylase
production. To achieve this objective, a total of 6
bacterial isolates were checked for extracellular
amylase production in fermentation broth
162
medium supplemented with 1% starch for amylase
production. Pure cultures were streaked on starch agar
plate and incubated for 3 days at 37 C. After
incubation starch agar plates were flooded with grams
iodine for the appearance of the zone of hydrolysis.
Culture showing a maximum zone of hydrolysis was
identified as Bacillus subtilis. Later on, similar
method of screening using starch agar plate and iodine
has been used earlier by Kumar et al. (2012), Alariya
et al. (2013), Garg and Kaur (2013).
Kaur et al. (2012) reported use of soil sample for
isolation of bacteria by serial dilution agar plate
technique. A total of 30 bacterial isolates were
screened on starch agar plates for amylolytic activity.
Out of 30 isolates, 6 bacterial isolates were found
positive.
Soil samples were collected from sewage
contaminated sites and bacteria were isolated by serial
dilution agar plate technique. Bacterial isolates were
tested for qualitative assay on starch agar plates.
Plates were flooded with 1% grams iodine solution in
order to detect amylase production (Pokhrel et al.,
2013). Patel et al. (2014) reported isolation of starch
degrading bacteria on starch agar plates from soil
sample. Mishra and Behera, (2008) reported screening
of kitchen waste contaminated soil on starch agar
plates for amylase production. Khokhar et al. (2011)
reported screening of fungal isolates obtained from
soil sample on starch agar plates.
Concentration of liberated Amylase activity
maltose (g) (U/mL)
1804 60.13 0.59
2072 69.06 0.93
2393 79.76 1.0
3218 107.26 0.29
3576 119.2 0.78
5888 196.26 1.11
(quantitative test). Table 1 presented that maximum
amylase activity (196.26 U/mL) was obtained by
bacterial isolate no. 3 of sample 2 after 72 h
incubation. Lowest amylase activity (60.13 U/mL)
was observed by bacterial isolate no. 1 of sample 1.
In amylase assay, product of starch hydrolysis i.e.
reducing sugars were measured by adding 3,5-dinitro
salicylic acid reagent, using maltose as standard and
 International Journal of Scientific Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2(7), pp. 159-165, 2015
the enzyme activity of crude extract was determined.
A similar method of amylase assay has been used
earlier by Khan and Priya (2011), Kumar et al. (2012),
Alariya et al. (2013), Garg and Kaur (2013), Karnwal
and Nigam (2013).
Khan and Priya (2011) reported maximum amylase
activity (0.0115 U/mL/min) at 37 C after 72 h of
incubation. Later on, Parmar and Pandya (2012)
investigated amylase production using submerged
fermentation by Bacillus sp. Amylase production was
observed in the range of 0.045-1.35 U/min/mL.
Maximum amylase activity (1.35 U/min/mL) was
recorded after 48 h of incubation.
Karnwal and Nigam (2013) reported that out of 12
bacterial strains, only 5 bacterial colonies showed
zone of hydrolysis for amylase production and
bacterial strain-2 was showing maximum amylase
activity (1.48 IU/mL) at pH 6. Pokhre et al. (2013)
reported maximum amylase activity (9.1 U/mL) by
Bacillus sp after 48 h of incubation. Sundar et al.
(2012) reported highest amylase activity (450 U/mg)
from Aspergillus niger after 7 days of submerged
fermentation at 28 C, pH 7.0. Mishra and Behera,
(2008) reported optimization of growth conditions for
a amylolytic Bacillus sp. Maximum amylase activity
was obtained in the fermentation broth containing 2%
of starch substrate. Johnson et al. (2014) reported
amylase activity by 3 fungal isolates obtained from
soil contaminates with cassava waste. It was 4.49
U/mL, 2.86 U/mL and 4.49 U/mL, respectively.
Ashwini et al. (2011) reported isolation of 35 bacteria
from soil samples and their screening on starch agar
plates for amylase production. Out of 4 positive
isolates only one isolate, identified as Bacillus marini
was selected for estimation of amylase activity.
Highest amylase activity was obtained at 40 C using
starch as carbon source and yeast extract as nitrogen
source.
4. CONCLUSION
In this study natural bacterial flora of the soil,
collected from different areas of Banasthali University
were identified for amylase production. A total
number of 8 bacterial isolates were tested for
extracellular amylase production in starch agar
medium, and 6 bacterial isolates were found positive
based on appearance of zone of hydrolysis in starch
agar plates. All the 6 bacterial isolates obtained by
initial screening were quantitatively tested for amylase
activity using submerged fermentation. The best
amylase activity (196.26 U/mL) was obtained by
bacterial isolate no. 3 of sample 2. The selected
bacterial isolate that showed considerable amylase
activity can be characterized further for various useful
industrial purposes.
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5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to Professor Aditya Shastri,
Vice-Chancellor, Banasthali University, Rajasthan for
providing necessary research facilities.
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International Journal of Scientific Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2(7), pp. 159-165, 2015

Mr. Arun Kumar Sharma is an Assistant Professor and Ph.D candidate in the Department of Bioscience
and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, rajasthan (India). He received Bachelor of Science degree and
Master of Science degree in Biotechnology from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur in 2005 and 2007,
respectively. He worked as a Research Associate under an ICAR funded project in Central Sheep and
Wool Research institute, Avikanagar for one year. He qualified ICAR-NET in two different disciplines-
Agricultural Biotechnology and Animal Biotechnology. He also qualified RPSC-SET. His current
research is focused on Screening and production of extracellular enzymes from microbial isolates of soil.

Prof. Vinay Sharma, Dean & Chair of the department of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Banasthali
University, India has major areas of research interests in Stress Plant Biology, Secondary metabolites and
Plant informatics. He has over 200 research publications and is member, editorial board of several
research journals.

Dr Jyoti Saxena is a Professor and Head in the Biochemical Engineering Department at Bipin Tripathi
Kumaon Institute of Technology, Dwarahat (Uttarakhand). She has completed her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from
Kumaun University, Nainital and her post-doc studies from UNL, USA. She has 19 years of teaching
experience in undergraduate and postgraduate classes in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemical
Engineering fields. Dr. Saxena has 51 research papers in reputed national and international journals and 4
books to her credit

Rashmi Chandra received B.Sc. (Biotechnology) Hons. degree from Allahbad agricultural University,
Allahbad (UP) and M.Sc. (Biotechnology) from Banasthali University, Rajasthan. She did her 6 month
dissertation work in the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Rajasthan
(India).

Dr. Afroz Alam, Associate Professor, Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali
University, Rajasthan. He has over 70 research publications in prestigious International and National
Journals and 6 text books with reputed publishers. He is member of editorial/reviewer board of many
research journals.

He did master of science (M.Sc.) in Biochemistry from CSJM University, Kanpur (India) and Master of
Technology in Biotechnology from Anna University, Chennai (India). Initially his research started from
molecular biology and protein engineering. Latter he moved to industry and worked on scale up and large
scale production of protein and secondary metabolites. Currently he is working as an Assistant professor
in the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali university, Rajasthan. Here he is actively
involved in teaching and research. At present he is working in the field of enzyme production and biofuel.

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