A new preferential medium for enumeration and isolation of desert actinomycetes

In order to facilitate the discovery of novel actinomycetes from the Egyptian deserts, which can be useful as new sources for bioactive metabolites, different media for enumeration and isolation of desert actinomycetes have been tested. For this purpose, 30 soil samples from different six sites representing the Western and Eastern deserts of Egypt were collected. The two deserts are considered hyper-arid and the soil characteristics were determined. The media used were glucose–yeast extract agar, soil extract agar and a new minimal medium (MM) containing glucose, yeast extract and mineral salts. The effects of the soil characteristics on the total viable actinomycete counts on the three media were evaluated. The results showed that the highest actinomycete count in samples from five out of six sites was obtained on MM. Also MM was more selective for actinomycetes and significantly decreased the number of fungal colonies and to a lower extent the number of bacterial colonies. Moreover, it supported the development of different and diverse groups of actinomycetes. From the results obtained in this study, MM is a new useful medium for enumeration and selective isolation of actinomycetes from the desert soils.     

Rare actinomycetes: a potential storehouse for novel antibiotics

New antimicrobial agents are desperately needed to combat the increasing number of antibiotic resistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms. Natural products remain the most propitious source of novel antibiotics. It is widely accepted that actinobacteria are prolific producers of natural bioactive compounds. We argue that the likelihood of discovering a new compound having a novel chemical structure can be increased with intensive efforts in isolating and screening rare genera of microorganisms. Screening rare actinomycetes and their previously under-represented genera from unexplored environments in natural product screening collections is one way of achieving this. Rare actinomycetes are usually regarded as the actinomycete strains whose isolation frequency is much lower than that of the streptomycete strains isolated by conventional methods. Many natural environments are still either unexplored or under-explored and thus, can be considered as a prolific resource for the isolation of less exploited microorganisms. More and different ecological niches need to be studied as sources of a greater diversity of novel microorganisms. In this review, we wish to update our understanding of the potential of the rare actinomycetes by focusing on the ways and means of enhancing their bio-discovery potential.     

Rare actinomycetes: a potential storehouse for novel antibiotics

New antimicrobial agents are desperately needed to combat the increasing number of antibiotic resistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms. Natural products remain the most propitious source of novel antibiotics. It is widely accepted that actinobacteria are prolific producers of natural bioactive compounds. We argue that the likelihood of discovering a new compound having a novel chemical structure can be increased with intensive efforts in isolating and screening rare genera of microorganisms. Screening rare actinomycetes and their previously under-represented genera from unexplored environments in natural product screening collections is one way of achieving this. Rare actinomycetes are usually regarded as the actinomycete strains whose isolation frequency is much lower than that of the streptomycete strains isolated by conventional methods. Many natural environments are still either unexplored or under-explored and thus, can be considered as a prolific resource for the isolation of less exploited microorganisms. More and different ecological niches need to be studied as sources of a greater diversity of novel microorganisms. In this review, we wish to update our understanding of the potential of the rare actinomycetes by focusing on the ways and means of enhancing their bio-discovery potential.     

Microbial technologies for the discovery of novel bioactive metabolites

Soil microbes represent an important source of biologically active compounds. These molecules present original and unexpected structure and are selective inhibitors of their molecular targets. At Biosearch Italia, discovery of new bioactive molecules is mostly carried out through the exploitation of a proprietary strain collection of over 50000 strains, mostly unusual genera of actinomycetes and uncommon filamentous fungi. A critical element in a drug discovery based on microbial extracts is the isolation of unexploited groups of microorganisms that are at the same time good producers of secondary metabolites. Molecular genetics can assist in these efforts. We will review the development and application of molecular methods for the detection of uncommon genera of actinomycetes in soil DNA and for the rapid dereplication of actinomycete isolates. The results indicate a substantial presence in many soils of the uncommon genera and a large diversity of isolated actinomycetes. However, while uncommon actinomycete strains may provide an increased chance of yielding novel structures, their genetics and physiology are poorly understood. To speed up their manipulation, we have developed vectors capable of stably maintaining large segments of actinomycete DNA in Escherichia coli and of integrating site specifically in the Streptomyces genome. These vectors are suitable for the reconstruction of gene clusters from smaller segment of cloned DNA, the preparation of large-insert libraries from unusual actinomycete strains and the construction of environmental libraries.     

Exploitation of phage battery in the search for bioactive actinomycetes

Screening of microbial natural products continues to represent an important route to the discovery of novel bioactive compounds for the development of new therapeutic agents, and actinomycetes are still the major producers of biopharmaceuticals. Selective isolation of bioactive actinomycete species, in particular the rare ones, has thus become a target for industrial microbiologists. In this context, bacteriophages have proven to be useful tools as (1) naturally present indicators of under-represented or rare actinomycete taxa in environmental samples, (2) indicators of the relatedness of bioactive taxa in target-directed search and discovery, (3) de-selection agents of unwanted taxa on isolation plates in target-specific search for rare actinomycete taxa, (4) tools in screening assays for specific targets. Against this background, a number of case studies are presented to illustrate the use of bacteriophages as tools in actinomycete-origin bioactive compound search and discovery programs.     

盐碱环境放线菌多样性研究

放线菌因产生多种多样的生物活性物质而受到重视。但极端环境放线菌的研究甚少。采用DGGE、纯培养法,重点研究了新疆、青海及埃及的重盐碱环境的放线菌分布情况,种类组成,生物学特性。发现了1个新科,8个新属及30多个新种。从嗜(耐)盐碱放线菌筛选到许多带有PKS基因的菌株。认为极端环境放线菌是生物活性物质的重要来源;改进分离程序,分离未知放线菌,是放线菌多样性研究及开发利用的前提之一;并对极端环境放线菌研究作了论述。     

Actinophages as indicators of actinomycete taxa in marine environments

It is necessary to continue to screen for new metabolites and evaluate the potential of less known and new bacterial taxa so that new and improved compounds for future use against drug-resistant bacteria or for chemical modification may be developed. There has been considerable interest in the detection and identification of marine microorganisms since they have been reported to produce bioactive compounds ranging from antitumour to antibacterial and antiviral agents. In this study, an improved technique that involves the exploitation of marine actinophages as indicators of the marine actinomycete taxa and uses marine bacteriophages as tools to reduce the numbers of common marine bacteria, which impedes the growth of rare actinomycetes on isolation plates, has been applied. This technique reduced the numbers of colony forming units of unwanted bacteria on isolation plates and hence increased the chances of detecting novel marine actinomycete genera for isolation and subsequent screening for antiviral activity.     

西沙群岛海域海洋放线菌的分离及其抗菌活性

分离西沙群岛海域放线菌并研究其抗菌活性。采用干燥、辐射、冷冻及加热处理等11种样品预处理方式和10种培养基对海洋放线菌进行分离,对代表性菌株进行鉴定,并考察分离放线菌生长的海水依赖性。进一步以金黄色葡萄球菌、大肠埃希菌、啤酒酵母和扩展青霉为指示菌考察分离放线菌的抗菌活性。从西沙群岛海域样品中分离获得放线菌383株,其中专性海洋放线菌23株。选定93株代表菌株进行鉴定,93株菌隶属于9个科,11个属。不同培养基对分离放线菌菌株的数量及种类影响显著。6株放线菌对4种指示菌均有抑菌活性,其中4株为专性海洋放线菌,表明海洋环境具有丰富的放线菌资源,这些放线菌特别是专性海洋放线菌有望为新型抗菌物质的发现与开发提供菌种来源。     

Phylogenetic characterization of culturable actinomycetes associated with the mucus of the coral Acropora digitifera from Gulf of Mannar

The marine environment is a virtually untapped source of novel actinomycete diversity and its metabolites. Investigating the diversity of actinomycetes in other marine macroorganisms, like seaweeds and sponges, have resulted in isolation of novel bioactive metabolites. Actinomycetes diversity associated with corals and their produced metabolites have not yet been explored. Hence, in this study we attempted to characterize the culturable actinomycetes population associated with the coral Acropora digitifera. Actinomycetes were isolated from the mucus of the coral wherein the actinomycetes count was much higher when compared with the surrounding seawater and sediment. Actinobacteria-specific 16S rRNA gene primers were used for identifying the isolates at the molecular level in addition to biochemical tests. Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis using three restriction enzymes revealed several polymorphic groups within the isolates. Sequencing and blast analysis of the isolates revealed that some isolates had only 96.7% similarity with its nearest match in GenBank indicating that they may be novel isolates at the species level. The isolated actinomycetes exhibited good antibacterial activity against various human pathogens. This study offers for the first time a prelude about the unexplored culturable actinomycetes diversity associated with a scleractinian coral and their bioactive capabilities.     

地黄内生放线菌的分离及地黄轮纹病拮抗菌Streptomyces folium leaf-16的新种鉴定

药用植物内生放线菌具有合成天然活性化合物的潜力,放线菌新种是寻找新型抗生素先导化合物的一个重要来源。【目的】挖掘药用植物地黄内生放线菌资源,并对地黄轮纹病拮抗菌株leaf-16进行新种鉴定。【方法】本研究采用五步消毒法分离河南道地药材地黄的内生放线菌,以地黄轮纹病原真菌草茎点霉(Phoma herbarum)为指示菌,采用平板对峙法筛选对该病菌有抑制作用的菌株,16S rRNA基因测序发现一株抗地黄轮纹病的放线菌新种leaf-16。通过形态、生理生化、细胞壁化学组分和分子生物学等特征对菌株leaf-16进行多相分类学鉴定。【结果】经平板对峙实验得到8株抗地黄轮纹病的放线菌,其中菌株leaf-16经16S rRNA基因测序、形态比较、生理生化、化学组分和分子生物学以及DNA-DNA杂交分析,确定菌株leaf-16为1株链霉菌新种,并命名为Streptomyces folium。【结论】菌株leaf-16为1株链霉菌新种,具有抑制地黄轮纹病原真菌的活性,为进一步分离新型抗地黄轮纹病的生物制剂奠定物质基础。     

放线菌药物资源开发面临的问题与对策

放线菌药物的开发已取得了极其辉煌的成就, 对医疗事业的发展和人类健康做出了重大贡献。然而, 随着放线菌药物资源的长期开发和利用, 也面临诸多问题。如: 包袱沉重, 去重复难度极大, 因而投资周期长、耗资巨, 风险大; 药物开发赶不上病原菌抗药性的增加及不断出现的新疾病; 虽然未知放线菌甚多, 但发现难度大。为此, 提出了从化学、菌种和基因三方面开展放线菌药物研究的应对策略, 以解决限制放线菌药物资源持续利用和发展的瓶颈。     

Rare genera of actinomycetes as potential producers of new antibiotics

A literature survey covering more than twenty-three thousand bioactive microbial products including eight thousand antiinfectives demonstrated the increasing relevance of the so called 'rare' actinomycetes as a source of new antibiotics. Past and present efforts in the isolation of rare actinomycetes have enriched the Biosearch Italia Strain Collection with more than twenty thousand strains, showing that, when selective isolation methods are developed and extensively applied, some genera, such as Actinomadura, Actinoplanes, Micromonospora, Microtetraspora, are not rare at all and can be recovered from many soil samples. The current focus is on the isolation of members of Streptosporangiaceae family, given their promising chemical diversity.     

放线菌药物资源开发面临的问题与对策

放线菌药物的开发已取得了极其辉煌的成就,对医疗事业的发展和人类健康做出了重大贡献.然而,随着放线菌药物资源的长期开发和利用,也面临诸多问题.如:包袱沉重,去重复难度极大,因而投资周期长、耗资巨,风险大;药物开发赶不上病原菌抗药性的增加及不断出现的新疾病;虽然未知放线菌甚多,但发现难度大.为此,提出了从化学、菌种和基因三方面开展放线菌药物研究的应对策略,以解决限制放线菌药物资源持续利用和发展的瓶颈.     

Marine actinomycetes: An ongoing source of novel bioactive metabolites

Actinomycetes are virtually unlimited sources of novel compounds with many therapeutic applications and hold a prominent position due to their diversity and proven ability to produce novel bioactive compounds. There are more than 22,000 known microbial secondary metabolites, 70% of which are produced by actinomycetes, 20% from fungi, 7% from Bacillus spp. and 1–2% by other bacteria. Among the actinomycetes, streptomycetes group are considered economically important because out of the approximately more than 10,000 known antibiotics, 50–55% are produced by this genus. The ecological role of actinomycetes in the marine ecosystem is largely neglected and various assumptions meant there was little incentive to isolate marine strains for search and discovery of new drugs. The search for and discovery of rare and new actinomycetes is of significant interest to drug discovery due to a growing need for the development of new and potent therapeutic agents. Modern molecular technologies are adding strength to the target-directed search for detection and isolation of bioactive actinomycetes, and continued development of improved cultivation methods and molecular technologies for accessing the marine environment promises to provide access to this significant new source of chemical diversity with novel/rare actinomycetes including new species of previously reported actinomycetes.     

广西北部湾茅尾海红树林生境放线菌分离培养基的比较

【背景】红树林生境拥有丰富的微生物资源,分离获得更多的纯培养放线菌为新型抗生素的发现提供菌种资源。【目的】使用新型放线菌分离培养基,发掘广西北部湾茅尾海红树林生境放线菌资源,评估新型放线菌分离培养基分离效果。【方法】设计出新型放线菌分离培养基——椰子汁-海藻糖培养基,对广西北部湾茅尾海红树林根际土壤和红树林根皮放线菌进行分离。基于分子生物学鉴定方法,对获得的纯培养放线菌进行多样性分析。【结果】从红树林根际土壤样品中分离获得65株放线菌,分布在5个目10个科15个属,使用YIM171培养基分离到7个属,MA培养基分离到5个属,椰子汁-海藻糖培养基分离到11个属,其中包括4株潜在新种;从红树林根皮样品中分离获得19株放线菌,分布在4个目7个科10个属,使用YIM171和椰子汁-海藻糖培养基分别分离到7个属,包括4株潜在新种;使用椰子汁-海藻糖培养基在红树林生境两类样品中获得3株潜在新种。【结论】广西北部湾茅尾海红树林根际土壤和根皮中放线菌多样性丰富,使用椰子汁-海藻糖培养基分离放线菌效果较佳,可用作放线菌的分离培养基。     

Rare genera of actinomycetes as potential producers of new antibiotics

A literature survey covering more than twenty-three thousand bioactive microbial products including eight thousand antiinfectives demonstrated the increasing relevance of the so called 'rare' actinomycetes as a source of new antibiotics. Past and present efforts in the isolation of rare actinomycetes have enriched the Biosearch Italia Strain Collection with more than twenty thousand strains, showing that, when selective isolation methods are developed and extensively applied, some genera, such as Actinomadura, Actinoplanes, Micromonospora, Microtetraspora, are not rare at all and can be recovered from many soil samples. The current focus is on the isolation of members of Streptosporangiaceae family, given their promising chemical diversity.     

中华蜂体内放线菌的分离、多样性及抗菌活性研究

【目的】探索药用昆虫中华蜂(Apis cerana cerana Fabricius)体内可培养放线菌的分离方法,研究其物种多样性及抗菌活性,挖掘更多微生物资源。【方法】选用7种分离培养基对中华蜂样品体内放线菌进行分离;通过采用16S rRNA PCR-RFLP和16S rRNA基因序列分析方法研究其多样性;选用4种致病菌对菌株进行抗菌活性初探。【结果】共分离得到180株放线菌,根据菌落的形态和细胞特征观察结果,从中选取84株作为代表菌株,其分属于3个目、4个科中的4个属,其中6株为潜在新种;最适的表面消毒方法:浓度为0.2%的Cl O2(二氧化氯)作为消毒剂,作用60 s;拮抗实验显示,31.0%、48.8%、27.4%、16.7%的代表菌株分别对大肠杆菌、枯草芽孢杆菌、玉米弯孢病菌、西瓜枯萎病菌有不同程度的抗菌活性,71.4%的代表菌株对至少一种病原菌有拮抗作用。【结论】分离方法的选择对昆虫体内放线菌的分离效果影响较大;中华蜂体内放线菌具有丰富的多样性,展现出很好的抗菌活性,表明其在发现新型生物活性物质中具有很大的潜力。     

Oligotrophy is Helpful for the Isolation of Bioactive Actinomycetes

It is necessary to develop new methods for the isolation of unknown actinomycetes from soils. To evaluate the effects of oligotrophic medium on the isolation of soil actinomycetes and develop a new isolation method, the Gause’s synthetic medium was diluted to one tenth the recommended concentration in the present study. Soil dilution plate technique was used to isolate actinomycetes from the soil samples. Oligotrophy decreased actinomycete and streptomycete counts, as well as the number of antagonistic actinomycete species. Oligotrophy also decreased the number of actinomycete species in five samples. Some actinomycete species were cultured only on the oligotrophic medium, whereas other species could not be cultured. Oligotrophy decreased actinomycete counts more significantly for soils with organic matter content >40 g/kg. We used 16S rRNA sequence analysis to identify 22 actinomycete species that were only cultured on the oligotrophic medium. Oligotrophic medium was helpful for the isolation of Streptomyces spp., Micromonospora spp. and Streptosporangium spp. Slightly more than 80 % of the identified actinomycete species were biologically active. Therefore, we could draw a conclusion that oligotrophic medium could be helpful for the discovery of new antibiotic producers and the exploitation and utilization of new, biologically active compounds.     

药用昆虫喙尾琵琶甲肠道抗菌活性放线菌的筛选及鉴定

【目的】探究药用昆虫喙尾琵琶甲Blaps rynchopetera肠道具有抗菌活性的放线菌,为抗菌药物开发提供新的放线菌资源。【方法】结合稀释涂布法和选择培养法从喙尾琵琶甲成虫肠道分离放线菌。以耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌(methieillin-resistant Staphylococus aureus)、金黄色葡萄球菌、大肠杆菌Escherichia coli、粪肠球菌Enterococcus faecalis、鼠伤寒沙门氏菌Salmonella typhimurium 和铜绿假单胞菌Pseudomonas aeruginosa 6株致病细菌以及黑曲霉Aspergillus niger、青霉菌Penicillium expansum和白色念珠菌Canidia albicans 3株致病真菌为指示菌,通过牛津杯琼脂扩散法测试放线菌次生代谢产物的抗菌活性。随后,采用分子生物学方法进行16S rRNA序列分析鉴定活性显著的18株放线菌并构建系统发育树。【结果】从喙尾琵琶甲成虫肠道中分离到176株共生放线菌,初步活性筛选结果显示其中46株放线菌表现出不同程度的抗菌活性。多株放线菌对致病菌具有广谱的抑菌作用且抑菌圈直径超过阳性对照药。选择抑菌圈直径大于15 mm的18株放线菌进行分子鉴定,结果显示均为链霉属Streptomyces。【结论】喙尾琵琶甲肠道含有丰富的抗菌活性放线菌资源。