Morphotypes and pigment profiles of halophilic bacteria: Practical data useful for novelty, taxonomic categorization and for describing novel species or new taxa

Halophilic bacteria were isolated from oil spill samples collected from West-coast of Goa. Bacteria were isolated from oil studded soil, salt marsh and offshore samples (A, A7, CSM, CB and CM) collected along the West coastline in Goa (India) i.e. Arambol beach, Calanguate beach, Candolim beach and Colva beach on Zobell Marine agar, R2A agar, Mannitol salt agar and Blood agar at temperature 22 to 24 °C. Isolates showed growth in the presence of hydrocarbons (1% phenanthrene and 2% bitumen). Diverse profiles of pigments were observed on different nutrient medium. Color of pigments produced on agar media recorded as per standard color chart. All isolates showed different growth pattern. Isolate no 11 (GOACSMMS-11) showed three different morphological features/growth patterns on Zobell Marine Agar and R2A medium in the presence of hydrocarbons. Results obtained yield new information which gives a clear idea about morphological features and pigmented profiles of hydrocarbon resistant morphotypes in the presence different media compositions. The presented datasets will be useful for studies on bacterial species showing high sequence similarity. Hence, generated data serves as a benchmark for to distinguish between genetically similar bacteria and for further research in phenotype based microbial diversity, microbial ecology of microorganisms and microbial systematics and taxonomy in addition to genotype data.


a b s t r a c t
Halophilic bacteria were isolated from oil spill samples collected from West-coast of Goa. Bacteria were isolated from oil studded soil, salt marsh and offshore samples (A, A7, CSM, CB and CM) collected along the West coastline in Goa (India) i.e. Arambol beach, Calanguate beach, Candolim beach and Colva beach on Zobell Marine agar, R2A agar, Mannitol salt agar and Blood agar at temperature 22 to 24°C. Isolates showed growth in the presence of hydrocarbons (1% phenanthrene and 2% bitumen). Diverse profiles of pigments were observed on different nutrient medium. Color of pigments produced on agar media recorded as per standard color chart. All isolates showed different growth pattern. Isolate no 11 (GOACSMMS-11) showed three different morphological features/growth patterns on Zobell Marine Agar and R2A medium in the presence of hydrocarbons. Results obtained yield new information which gives a clear idea about morphological features and pigmented profiles of hydrocarbon resistant morphotypes in the presence different media compositions. The presented datasets will be useful for studies on bacterial species showing high sequence similarity. Hence, generated

Data accessibility Data incorporated within this article
Value of the data Data is given in the paper help to describe the morphological features and diversity of bacteria. Data presented in this paper acts as key features for determining novelty of species if microorganism showing more genomic similarity i.e. for taxonomic categorization and classification of bacteria.
Data generated serves as the benchmark for further research in microbial diversity, microbial ecology of microorganisms and microbial systematic and taxonomy.

Data
The data described in this paper highlights morphological features of halophilic bacteria (morphotypes). Bacterial species and their pigmented morphotypes were isolated from oil studded soil, salt marsh and offshore samples (A, A7, CSM, CB and CM) collected along the West coastline in Goa

Isolation cultivation of microorganism
Isolation of halophilic bacteria was carried out from samples-A, A7, CSM, CB and CM (approximately 100 g each)-collected from oil studded soil, salt marsh and offshore along West coastline in Goa (India) i.e. Arambol beach, Calanguate beach, Candolim beach and Colva beach (Fig. 1). Nineteen bacterial species were isolated on separately spread Zobell Marine agar, R2A agar, Mannitol salt agar and Blood agar with and without 1% phenanthrene in triplicates at temperature 22°C [1][2][3][4]. Selected bacterium was streaked on same media used in former step for obtaining bacterial cultures in pure form. Phenanthrene (1%) was dissolved in acetone (HiMedia, AR grade) while bitumen (2%) was dissolved in chloroform (HiMedia, AR grade). Phenanthrene and bitumen solutions were spread separately on plates in triplicates. Dissolving solvents were allowed evaporate at 40°C aseptically. All halophilic bacteria were allowed to grow on Zobell Marine agar for confirmation of growth in the presence hydrocarbons-1% phenanthrene and 2% bitumen-in the separate experiments. Zobell Marine Agar 2216 (M384) and R2A agar (M1743) were used as encrypt medium for cultivation and preservation of microorganisms in later experiments [5][6][7]. Medium M384 and M1743 were slightly modified and glycerol (4%) for preservation of bacteria at 4°C. M384 medium was used for studies on morphological features and pigment production ability/tests. These hydrocarbon containing plates were used for isolation and cultivation of microorganisms in later experiments. Selected species were also checked for the production of pigments in Zobell Marine broth. All isolates incubated at 22°C for 24-96 h. Results were recorded in lab notebook for the experiments (morphological features, biochemical tests, hydrocarbon tolerance/resistance and pigment production ability of isolated bacteria.

Interpretation of results as per obtained results shown table and figures
Isolates showed growth in the presence of hydrocarbons (1% phenanthrene and 2% bitumen). Diverse profiles of pigments were observed on different medium. Color of pigments produced on agar media recorded as per standard color chart were Antique white, Misty rose, Papaya white, Ghost white, Gainsboro, Light Golden Rod, Moccasin, Lemon Chiffon, Ivory, Mint cream, White smoke, Light orange, Wheat, Floral white, Old lace, Pink etc. All isolates showed different growth pattern. Isolate no 11 (GOACSMMS-11) showed three different morphological growth patterns on Zobell Marine Agar and R2A medium in the absence and presence of hydrocarbons. Isolate no. 19 showed Pink color on Medium M384 (Table 1; Figs. [2][3][4][5]. This phenotypic data will have use in future to distinguish genetically similar bacterial group such as Bacillus and Bacillus-like bacteria for describing novel species and new taxa as per International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) or Bacteriological Code (BC).