NIOT to set up India’s 1st deep-sea marine microbial repository

Chennai: India's first Deep-Sea Marine Microbial Repository will be established by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) to preserve and study microorganisms found in extreme marine environments. The facility, coming up under the Deep Ocean Mission, will serve as a national reference centre for isolating, culturing, and characterizing microbes for industrial, biomedical, and environmental applications.NIOT director Balaji Ramakrishnan said the repository is being set up at the institute's seafront campus in Nellore, where all the critical equipment needed to study and store microbes will soon be installed. "The repository will contain microbes isolated from different deep-sea environments such as the water column, on and below the seabed, and seamounts. These will be documented, cultured, and characterized for a range of applications, including healthcare," he said. Researchers and startups developing commercial products from marine microbes will have access to the facility.Recently, a team from NIOT's Marine Biotechnology Group visited the more than 150-year-old Roscoff Marine Biological Station in France for technical discussions on isolation, molecular characterization, long-term preservation, and bioprospecting of marine microbes. The visit helped frame protocols and procedures to be followed at the new repository.Globally, about 2 million marine microbes have been identified. NIOT researchers have so far catalogued over 1,000 promising strains through expeditions in the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean. Using a special winch system and rosette water samplers aboard research vessel Sagar Nidhi, samples are collected from the deep sea and stored at the same temperature as their environment.Some documented strains have already found commercial and scientific applications. In 2021, NIOT scientists identified a novel strain of Bacillus clausii from Andaman Sea sediment, producing ectoine, a molecule with UV-protection and anti-ageing properties suitable for luxury skincare products. The technology has been transferred to three firms.A 2023 study reported that Bacillus subtilis EB1, isolated from equatorial waters, can remove up to 93% of an oil pollutant called phenanthrene within three days, even under high deep-sea pressure, making it promising for cleaning up oil contamination.A 2017 study reported NIOT and Anna University scientists identifying a deep-sea bacterium, Streptomyces sp. NIOT-Ch-40, that can kill drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA. The study showed it produces strong natural antibiotics and can survive under high-pressure ocean conditions."We will also make provisions for startups to set up labs within the repository and use our samples and facilities," Ramakrishnan said.