Physico-chemical Parameters and Species’ Distribution Patterns of Extremophilic Bacteria in Kitagata and Ihimbo Hot Springs in South Western Uganda

Extremophiles are organisms that live in extreme environmental conditions of pressure, temperature, salinity that are considered uninhabitable in comparison to the physico-chemical characteristics of the normal environment of human cells. Extremophiles include thermophiles, barophiles, acidophiles and alkaliphiles. Extensive studies of extremophiles ecology, physiology, and molecular biology have yielded valuable information about life processes with a number of important industrial applications. The study sought to profile the thermophilic bacteria present in the less studied two hot springs of Kitagata and Ihimbo. Water samples were collected in a sterile thermo flask and taken to the laboratory, and then the colonial and biochemical tests were done and in comparison to the Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology nine species were identified. The most common were Bacillus spp, Klebsiella spp, Escherichia coli, and Enterobacter spp.  Identification of these thermophile bacteria has become a key step in mapping potential sources of the sought thermo-stable enzymes and also empowered future microbial ecology research and bio-discovery of thermo-stable enzymes that are important in the biotechnological breakthrough