Abstract
Seventy-two bacterial isolates from soil and aquatic sources were tested for their ability to produce chitinase. After successive rounds of primary and secondary screening, an agar-degrading marine bacterium from the Red Sea (Hurghada- Egypt), designated R2 attracted our attention not by its higher chitinolytic agarovorant activity but also by its multiple enzyme production (protease, gelatinase, lipase, esterase, amylase, cellulase, pectinase, dextranase, alginase, arabinase, peroxidase, manganese peroxidase ...) and its moderately halophilic/halotolerant physiology. This bacterial isolate was selected and identified using conventional methods as well as the 16S rRNA technique. The morphological, physiological, and biochemical characterization showed that the strain was Gram-positive or Gram- variable, endospore-forming rods, motile by a single polar flagellum, positive for oxidase, catalase, peroxidase, and urease, negative for nitrate reductase, indole, MR, and VP., therefore, it was assigned to the genus Bacillus. Moreover, the isolate was identified molecularly and submitted in the Gen Bank sequence database as Bacillus sp. R2 with a given accession number DQ 923,161. the higher chitinolytic agarovorant activity and multi enzymatic productivity of Bacillus sp. R2 makes it a suitable candidate for marine enzymes production in addition to its ecological role in marine biogeocycles.