Microbial diversity of a Himalayan forest and characterization of rare actinomycetes for antimicrobial compounds.

The slow pace of discovery of new effective drugs against multi-drug resistant pathogens and largely unsuccessful combinatorial chemistry has resulted in shifting the focus back to natural products as sources of lead molecules for antimicrobial drugs, mainly due to their structural diversity. Investigation of under-explored habitats for potentially novel microorganisms provides for wider chemodiversity. In this study, four actinomycetes, namely UK-274, UK-281, UK-282 and UK-285, which showed broad-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal activities, were isolated from Timli forest range of the biodiversity-rich Himalayan region.

Saccharothrix tharensis sp. nov., an actinobacterium isolated from the Thar Desert, India.

The taxonomic provenance of a filamentous actinobacterial strain isolated from a desert soil was established using a polyphasic approach. The strain has chemotaxonomic and morphological properties consistent with its classification in the genus Saccharothrix. It forms a distinct branch in the Saccharothrix 16S rRNA gene tree, related to the type strain of Saccharothrix saharensis (96.

Saccharothrix sp. TD-093 from the Thar Desert, India: Metabolite Fingerprinting of Antimicrobial Compounds and in silico Analysis.

During a screening program for actinomycetes from underexplored and arid Thar Desert (India), TD-093 was isolated. The isolate was characterized based on 16S rDNA sequencing. Aqueous and organic solvent extracts of culture supernatant were investigated for antimicrobial activity.

Characterization of Yuhushiella sp. TD-032 from the Thar Desert and its antimicrobial activity.

During a screening program for antimicrobial compounds from underexplored habitats, a Gram-positive bacterium TD-032, was isolated from arid soil, Thar Desert (India), and analyzed for its morphological, physicochemical, and antimicrobial properties. The 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence of the isolate was further studied for the novelty of γ-hyper variable region. TD-032 was grown in large-scale culture, and aqueous and organic solvent extracts analyzed for antimicrobial activity.