MOLECULAR GENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE BACTERIUM ENTEROBACTER KOBEI

Abstract

This study presents a molecular genetic analysis of a bacterial strain Enterobacter kobei isolated from a natural water reservoir, Karasu (West Kazakhstan region). The aim of the research was to identify the isolated microorganism using modern molecular methods, including cultivation, DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene PCR amplification, and sequencing on the Oxford Nanopore MinION platform. Water samples were inoculated onto Luria–Bertani (LB) nutrient medium, after which the obtained colonies exhibited typical morphological characteristics of the genus Enterobacter. Genomic DNA was extracted using the Monarch Spin gDNA Extraction Kit and evaluated by agarose gel electrophoresis and fluorometric analysis using the Qubit Flex instrument. For molecular identification, a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified using universal primers 27-F and 1492-R, followed by sequencing of the obtained product. Sequencing results showed that the studied strain most likely belongs to the species Enterobacter kobei, which was confirmed by comparative analysis with a reference sequence from the NCBI database (99.8% identity). The obtained data demonstrate the effectiveness of molecular genetic methods for accurate identification of bacteria isolated from natural sources and highlight their importance for microbiological monitoring of aquatic ecosystems.