Preliminary isolation and screening of halophilic archaea with potential to produce cellulase, chitinase, xylanase, and hyaluronidase enzymes

Abstract

Haloarchaea are halophilic archaea capable of producing enzymes that function effectively in hypersaline environments. This study isolated 27 microbial strains from the salt fields of Hon Khoi, Khanh Hoa (before the administrative merger), and screened five potential haloarchaea strains using anisomycin sensitivity tests. These strains were assessed for their ability to produce polysaccharide-degrading enzymes, including cellulase or xylanase, chitinase, and hyaluronidase, using agar plate assays with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), chitin, and hyaluronic acid as substrates. The results showed that strain VS7M5.3 exhibited strong activity on all three substrates, particularly carboxymethyl cellulose and hyaluronic acid. Two other strains, VS7M5.1 and VS7M5.7, also demonstrated noteworthy enzyme activities. This is the first study in Vietnam to focus on culturable halophilic archaea isolated from hypersaline environments in the salt fields of Hon Khoi, successfully screening potential strains for polysaccharide - degrading enzyme production. The study has preliminarily identified strains with strong enzymatic activity, especially VS7M5.3, highlighting the potential of exploiting local microbial resources for biotechnological applications.