Taxonomic and antimicrobial profiles of a rare actinomycete isolated from an inland solar saltern (India)

Abstract

<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-GB">Rare actinomycetes from unexplored natural habitats nourish current natural compound screening programs. A rare actinomycete strain designated JAJ70; previously isolated from a hypersaline solar saltern was selected for its antimicrobial activities against bacteria and fungi. In the current study, the strain JAJ70 was studied at phenotypic and genotypic level for its proper assignment under rare genus <i>Actinoalloteichus.</i> Comparison of the morphological and physiological characteristics of JAJ70 with those of already known species of <i>Actinoalloteichus</i> showed significant divergence. Analysis of the almost complete 16S rDNA sequence of strain JAJ70 showed a similarity level ranging between 97 and 99.6% within validly reported <i>Actinoalloteichus</i> species. Strain JAJ70 showed significant antimicrobial activity against a range of fungal strains and clinical pathogens including <span style="font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. In fact, the broad-spectrum activity exhibited by JAJ70 implies the need of further characterization of active antibiotic fraction from the crude extract and subsequent identification of responsible gene clusters to uncover its industrial and biotechnological significance. </span></span>