merged

Identification of Bacteria from Marphysa Moribidii
Noor Shaheera Binti Shahidi
Supervisor: Dr. Suzana Misbah
Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences)
School of Fundamental Science
Annelids is currently used as a model for bacterial research mainly for medical
purposes. Marphysa moribidii is a polychaetous annelid or marine segmented worm
that has huge population within mangrove forest of Peninsular Malaysia. Limitation of
research on bacteria associated with polychaetes lead to this study to fulfil
requirement for potential therapeutic purposes. This study aimed to identify bacteria
isolated from M. moribidii tissues include from muscle, blood vessel, blood and faeces.
Tissues from different body parts of polychaete were dissected and the bacteria were
isolated on nutrient agar and marine agar. Species of bacteria were further identified
using BBL Crystal Identification System. 56% of Gram-positive bacteria (Actinobacteria
and Firmicutes) were identified compared with Gram-negative bacteria (Proteobacteria
and Bacteroidetes) only 22%. This also include 22% of unknown bacteria that could
not be identified due to errors in bacteria amount adjustment and colour determination
while conducting BBL Crystal Identification kit.
348 | U M T U N D E R G R A D U A T E R E S E A R C H D A Y 2018