Utility of Galactomanann monitoring in predicting Response to Empiric Antifungal therapy in Neutropenic patients following intensive chemotherapy

Azo dyes are widely used in the textile dyeing process due to the superior fastness for the fabric, high stability in light and washing, cost effectiveness of their synthesis and variety of colors are available in comparison to natural dyes and resistant to microbial attack. The discharge of these industrial effluent containing azo dyes results in creating undesirable conditions that are lethal to resident organisms. Various physical and chemical methods are employed for the remediation of the hazardous effluent but they may have disadvantages and limitations. Bioremediation is an effective technique, which is ecofriendly, cost effective, simple structural set up, less sludge producing properties. Realizing the importance of marine microbes in the degradation of azodyes, the present study focused on the azo dye degradation potential of marine bacterial strains in vitro. A total of 12 bacterial strains were isolated from marine samples collected from three sampling site, Sanghumukham, Veli and Vizhinjam coast along the Arabian Sea. The isolated strains were screened for their potential to tolerate Congo red and Methyl red. The strains which showed maximum tolerance were selected for the decolourisation assay. Effects of dye concentration and incubation period on decolourisation were studied. Corresponding growth of the bacterial strains were measured in terms of absorbance at 600 nm. The results revealed that most of the selected strains shown >50% decolourisation with slight variation and the growth and decolourisation are inter-related. The present study proved that marine bacterial strains are very effective in degrading azo dyes in an eco-friendly way.