Diversity and Biotechnological Potential of Marine Actinomycetes from India

Abstract

Actinomycetes are potential antibiotic producers that have been isolated from various terrestrial ecosystems and are exploited for their bioactive compounds. On the contrary, the marine environments were less explored and the research on marine actinomycetes had gained momentum only for the past three decades. Marine actinomycetes are one of the most significant producers of diverse groups of secondary metabolites and provide a huge scope for pharmaceutical and other industries. These organisms are proved to be important, both biotechnologically and economically considering their global presence. The marine ecosystem in India is less explored for the isolation of actinomycetes and several ecological niches are left unattended. Compared to the global scenario, the contribution from Indian researchers towards the isolation and exploitation of marine actinomycetes from the Indian sub-continent is noteworthy. Exploration of actinomycetes from these ecosystems will certainly yield new species and metabolites. Considering the declining rate of drug discovery from terrestrial actinomycetes, the marine counterparts, especially from unexplored regions from the Indian coast will hold a promising way ahead. Apart from drugs, these organisms are reported for the production of different industrially important enzymes like cellulase, amylase, protease, lipase, etc. They are also used in environmental applications, agriculture, and aquacultures sectors. With the rapid advancement in the study of actinomycetes from different marine sources in India, new metabolites are being discovered which have an important role from the economic and industrial point of view. As the world is witnessing newer diseases such as Sars-Cov 2 and the pandemic due to its demands drugs and other metabolites are increasing day by day. Therefore, the necessity for the quest for unique and rare marine actinomycetes is enhancing too. This review highlights the research on marine actinomycetes in India and also the challenges associated with its research.

Actinomycete Potential as Biocontrol Agent of Phytopathogenic Fungi: Mechanisms, Source, and Applications

“…In post-harvest fruit management, antagonists are subjected to changes in pH, temperature, and humidity because in these conditions the efficiency of biocontrol agents can be affected [ 99 ]. Actinomycetes from marine, saline, hypersaline, and wetland environments are subjected to extreme environmental conditions that allow them to adapt to the changes in temperature, pH, and humidity that occur post-harvest [ 19 , 100 ]. However, in most of the studies of actinomycetes and biocontrol of phytopathogenic fungi in post-harvest fruit, the isolates provided are from terrestrial environments ( Figure 4 ).…”

Cellulolytic activity at the low temperature of associative bacteria from a seagrass ecosystem

“…BCy which was isolated from Cymodocearotundata seagrass using two different media [18], Sarkar and Suthindhiran (2022) also suggested the diversity of marine actinobacteria from different marine ecosystems and found 30 types of actinobacteria from various types of seaweed such as Cymodaceae sp., Enhalus sp., Halophila sp., Halodule sp., Syringodium sp., and Thalassia sp. [19]. In addition, the diversity of heterotroph bacteria in seagrass ecosystems was also shown by Boontanom and Chantarasiri (2020), who found a diversity of 9 isolates of epiphytic bacteria isolated from seaweed (Halodule uninervis) [20].…”

Systematic bioprospection for cellulolytic actinomycetes in the Chihuahuan Desert: isolation and enzymatic profiling

“…Because nearly 80% of our collection was able to use CMC as only carbon source, we evaluated cellulose degradation in CCM1 agar medium in terms of enzymatic index (EI) to select the best possible cellulolytic candidate. Calculating EI is used to evaluate enzyme-producing prospects within the same genus ( Teather & Wood, 1982 ) and was previously used for this purpose in other studies ( Barzkar & Sohail, 2020 ; Fatokun, Nwodo & Okoh, 2016 ; Lewin et al., 2022 ; Sarkar & Suthindhiran, 2022 ). In this study, 12 out of 196 strains showed high EI values (≥ 3.0) and were considered as highly cellulolytic, so they were selected for further quantitative enzymatic assays ( Fig.…”