Screening of Actinomycetes for Enzyme and Antimicrobial Activities from the Soil Sediments of Northern Tamil Nadu, South India

Abstract

The present study involves the screening of actinomycetes for enzymes and antimicrobial activities from the soil sediments of Northern Tamil Nadu, South India. Actinomycetes from the soil samples were isolated by pour plate technique on Actinomycetes Isolation Agar. Morphological characteristics of the isolates were studied based on microscopic appearance. Actinomycetes isolates was screened for the production of different extracellular enzymes like amylase, protease and lipase. In the screening for enzyme activity, the actinomycetes strains showed amylase activity, protease activity and lipase activity. Preliminary screening for antimicrobial activity of actinomycetes isolates were performed by cross streak plate method. Active form of 82 isolated strains showed activity against one or more bacteria and exhibited potential antifungal activity. The active strain was subjected to cultural, molecular identification and optimization of fermentation medium, solvent extraction and antimicrobial activity for crude extracts. Based on the primary antimicrobial proficiency, Loyola AR1 strain was selected for further studies. Ethyl acetate extract showed good antimicrobial activity when compared to butanol extract. The partial 16s rRNA sequence analysis of Loyola AR1 isolate identified to be Streptomyces sp. and the sequence was submitted to the Gene Bank (HM163569).