Chapter 6 - Bioprospecting Actinobacteria for Bioactive Secondary Metabolites From Untapped Ecoregions of the Northwestern Himalayas

Abstract

Microbial secondary metabolites are the well-known examples of FDA approved antibiotics. The sources of majority of these antibiotics are actinobacteria—a class of Gram-positive bacteria. Bioactive secondary metabolite secretions of these actinobacteria display a promising potential to be used as anticancerous, antituberculosis, and antimicrobial drugs. Due to the high rediscovery rate of known compounds from actinobacteria inhabiting conventional environments, there has been a renewed interest in the exploration of untapped regions of the Himalayas, more specifically the Northwestern Himalayas, for the development of new secondary metabolites for rare and novel actinobacteria with regard to the urgent need to combat the increasing number of multidrug-resistant human pathogens. By exploiting actinobacteria from these high-altitude Himalayan regions, attempts to isolate either novel taxa of actinobacteria or known actinobacteria with novel bioactive secondary metabolites are gaining success. These metabolites are potential sources for the discovery of biologically active compounds.