Isolation, Identification and Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Streptomyces flavogriseus, strain ACTK2 from Soil Sample of Kodagu, Karnataka State (India)

BACKGROUND: The search for novel antibiotics continues to be of immense importance in research programs around the world for pharmaceutical, industrial and agricultural applications. Filamentous soil bacteria, belonging to the Streptomyces genus, are widely used as an important biological tool for their ability to produce a wide range of novel secondary metabolites, such as “antibiotics”. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to isolate and identify a strain of Streptomyces with high antibiotic production capability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The soil sample was collected randomly from the agricultural land of Kushalnagar Taluk of Kodagu district, Karnataka, India. The ACTK2 strain was isolated by serial dilution method and identified based on cultural, morphological, microscopic, biochemical and sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene parameters. The isolated ACTK2 was analyzed for antimicrobial activities by perpendicular streak and disc diffusion methods, against the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 121), Gram-negative Escherichia. coli (MTCC 729), Enterococcus aerogenes (MTCC 2829) and filamentous fungi (Trichoderma harizianum (MTCC6046), Fusarium proliferatum (MTCC 9375). Further, an antimicrobial metabolite from the ACTK2 strain was extracted by solvent extraction method, using n-butanol. The production of the antimicrobial compound by the ACTK2 strain was optimized by using different nutritional media and cultural conditions. RESULTS: The strain Streptomyces flavogriseus designated as ACTK2 (Accession number KC990785) isolated from the soil sample of Kushalnagar Taluk, Kodagu, Karnataka, India, exhibited a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against test microorganisms. The optimum growth and antimicrobial compound production by strain ACTK2 was found to be a maximal pH 8, in the shaker incubator at 28ºC, for a period of 10 days. CONCLUSIONS: The crude n-butanol extract of the ACTK2 strain of S. flavogriseus showed a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities against the test organisms and this opened further research investigations on purification and structural characterization of the active compounds from the crude extract.