Malays. Appl. Biol. (2007) 36(1): 59–65
THERMOTOLERANT ACTINOMYCETES FROM THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAIN – ANTAGONISTIC POTENTIAL, CHARACTERIZATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF SELECTED STRAINS
M. RADHAKRISHNAN1, S. BALAJI2 and R. BALAGURUNATHAN1*
1 Postgraduate Department of Microbiology, Sri Sankara College, Kanchipuram-631 561, Tamilnadu, India
2 Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
*E-mail:
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ABSTRACT
Actinomycetes are a group of filamentous bacteria that provides a fruitful source of secondary metabolites. In this present study, 3 soil samples were collected from Pirpanjal range (Lat.32°.93’N; Long.75°.13’E) of the Himalayan Mountain for the isolation of thermotolerant actinomycetes. The bacterial counts ranged from 50 X103 to 60 X 103 cfu g-1 of dry soil. Twenty strains of actinomycetes were selected from total isolates based on their morphological features and were screened for their antibacterial, antiphytofungal and enzymatic activity. Strains T-11 and T-36 showed good antibacterial activity whereas strains T-10 and T-25 showed good antiphytofungal activity. Out of 20 strains, 60-65% of the strains showed good alkaline protease, lipase and amylase activities. The crude compound obtained from strain T-11 showed prominent activity against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria including Methicillin Resistant and Vancomycin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains; while strain T-10 showed good antiphytofungal activity against disease causing fungi such as Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani (wilt disease of vegetable crops), Colletotricum falcatum (red rot disease of sugarcane) and Helminthosporium oryzae (blast disease of rice crop). Based on the antibacterial, antiphytofungal and enzymatic potential, 4 actinomycete strains were characterized and were tentatively identified as Streptomyces viridogens (T-10), S. rimosus (T-11), S. phaeoviridis (T- 25) and S. griseoloalbus (T-36). These strains will be a good source for potential antibiotics for both clinical and agricultural applications.
Key words: Actinomycetes, Bioactive compounds, Mountain microorganisms, fungicides.
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