The present study was conducted to screen for psychrophilic bacterial isolate from soil samples of Kashmir that are able to produce excess L-tryptophan and accumulate it extracellularly. The morpho-physio-biochemical characters and 16S rDNA sequence homology of the isolated strain indicated its taxonomic affiliation to Pseudomonas chlororaphis. The isolated wild type Pseudomonas sp. was able to grow optimally at 100 C and as low as 00C and showed considerable amount of L-tryptophan production (119 mg/lit). Findings in this study indicate the possibility that the isolated psychrophilic strain may be used for industrial production of L-tryptophan. This is so far the first report on L-tryptophan production by any psychrophilic bacteria.
