Estimation of antimicrobial activities and fatty acid composition of actinobacteria isolated from water surface of underground lakes from Badzheyskaya and Okhotnichya caves in Siberia

Abstract

Extreme and unusual ecosystems such as isolated ancient caves are considered as potential tools for the discovery of novel natural products with biological activities. Actinobacteria that inhabit these unusual ecosystems are examined as a promising source for the development of new drugs. In this study we focused on the preliminary estimation of fatty acid composition and antibacterial properties of culturable actinobacteria isolated from water surface of underground lakes located in Badzheyskaya and Okhotnichya caves in Siberia. Here we present isolation of 17 strains of actinobacteria that belong to the Streptomyces, Nocardia and Nocardiopsis genera. Using assays for antibacterial and antifungal activities, we found that a number of strains belonging to the genus Streptomyces isolated from Badzheyskaya cave demonstrated inhibition activity against bacteria and fungi. It was shown that representatives of the genera Nocardia and Nocardiopsis isolated from Okhotnichya cave did not demonstrate any tested antibiotic properties. However, despite the lack of antimicrobial and fungicidal activity of Nocardia extracts, those strains are specific in terms of their fatty acid spectrum. When assessing fatty acid profile, we found that polyunsaturated fatty acids were quantitatively dominant in extracts of Nocardia sp. and Streptomyces sp. grown in different media. Saturated fatty acids were the second most abundant type in the fatty acid profile. It was due to palmitic acid. Also, a few monounsaturated fatty acids were detected. The obtained materials can become a basis for development of approaches to use bacteria isolated from caves as a biological sources of bioactive compounds to create medical and veterinary drugs.

An Actinobacterial Isolate, Streptomyces sp. YX44, Produces Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics That Strongly Inhibit Staphylococcus aureus

“…With the increasing threat to patients of antibiotic resistance, the need for novel antibiotics has become a very serious issue. Researchers have expanded their search to many different environments, including bat caves [ 26 ], underground lakes [ 27 ], and deserts [ 28 ], with the aim of finding new candidate antibiotics. In this study, we screened water samples from a drinking pipe and found a Streptomyces , YX44, that exhibited promising broad-spectrum inhibition activity against a number of different pathogens.…”

Cultivable Actinobacteria First Found in Baikal Endemic Algae Is a New Source of Natural Products with Antibiotic Activity

“…http://www.evrogen.com ). PCR was performed in a T-Gradient thermocycler (Biometra, Germany) in the volume of 25 μ L. The PCR parameters were as follows: initial denaturation at 95°C for 5 min, followed by 25 cycles of 95°C for 40 sec, 49–52°C for 25 sec, and 72°C for 110 sec, and final elongation at 72°C for 5 min [ 36 ].…”

“…e PCR parameters were as follows: initial denaturation at 95°C for 5 min, followed by 25 cycles of 95°C for 40 sec, 49-52°C for 25 sec, and 72°C for 110 sec, and final elongation at 72°C for 5 min [36].…”

Microbial Activity in Subterranean Ecosystems: Recent Advances

“…One is the isolation of the organism and the subsequent assay of the antimicrobial activity of extracts against pathogenic bacteria. Numerous studies can be found in the literature, for which only a few representative papers are cited here [76][77][78][79][80][81]. In most papers, attempts to identify the bioactive compounds through chemical and structural analyses were not accomplished.…”