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Bacteria from marine environment are an underutilized source of novel antibiotics. Gram-positive
bacteria are part of the normal flora of fish from different aquatic environments. The aim of the present
study was to isolate and screen enterotoxic pathogenic strains of Bacillus from gut region of local marine
tropical fish varieties and their genetic diversity analysis. Tropical marine fishes selected in this study
were shark, anchovy, ribbion fish, sole, mackerel, seer, tuna, snapper, sardine, and pomfret commercially
available in Bangalore region. The bacteria were isolated on to marine agar. All the strains were
morphologically and biochemically characterized to be Bacillus cereus. A total of 10 primers of the OP
series were used in the present study. RAPD PCR using primers OPB-08 and OPD-20 generated
maximum banding pattern in this study showed high polymorphism between selected Bacillus cereus
species. Data obtained from this study will help in understanding genetic variation among the various
Bacillus cereus strains isolated form tropical marine fishes which has great economic importance in food
industry.
Keywords: Enterotoxic, Bacillus cereus, Lecithinase, RAPD, Polymorphism.