Publication Date:
2017-12-21
Description:
Cultivable Actinobacteria are the largest source of microbially derived bioactive molecules. The
high demand for novel antibiotics highlights the need for exploring novel sources of these bacteria.
Microbial symbioses with sessile macro-organisms, known to contain bioactive compounds likely of
bacterial origin, represent an interesting and underexplored source of Actinobacteria. We studied
the diversity and potential for bioactive-metabolite production of Actinobacteria associated with
two marine lichens (
Lichina confinis
and
L. pygmaea
; from intertidal and subtidal zones) and one
littoral lichen (
Roccella fuciformis
; from supratidal zone) from the Brittany coast (France), as well
as the terrestrial lichen
Collema auriforme
(from a riparian zone, Austria). A total of 247 bacterial
strains were isolated using two selective media. Isolates were identified and clustered into 101
OTUs (98% identity) including 51 actinobacterial OTUs. The actinobacterial families observed
were: Brevibacteriaceae, Cellulomonadaceae, Gordoniaceae, Micrococcaceae, Mycobacteriaceae,
Nocardioidaceae, Promicromonosporaceae, Pseudonocardiaceae, Sanguibacteraceae and
Streptomycetaceae. Interestingly, the diversity was most influenced by the selective media rather
than lichen species or the level of lichen thallus association. The potential for bioactive-metabolite
biosynthesis of the isolates was confirmed by screening genes coding for polyketide synthases
types I and II. These results show that littoral lichens are a source of diverse potentially bioactive
Actinobacteria.
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
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