Abstract

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ANTIBIOTIC PRODUCING ACTINOMYCETES FROM AGRICULTURE SOIL

Sukhvir Kaur*, Harjot Pal Kaur and Gagandeep Kaur

ABSTRACT

Actinomycetes are a group of organisms originally considered to be intermediates between fungi and bacteria. These bacteria have been noted to serve as rich reservoirs of medicinal antibiotics and are therefore extremely relevant to scientists, pharmaceutical industries and agricultural industries. The main focus of present study was to isolate some antibiotic producing Actinomycetes strains from agriculture soil by using Actinomycetes isolation agar media. Metabolites of Actinomycetes were tested for antibiotic activities through the primary screening using the agar streak method. Antibiotic activity was checked against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas sp. A sum total of 15 strains of Actinomycetes were isolated which were proceeded for primary screening. Antimicrobial activity in primary screening against various bacteria was observed in 12 isolates. After preliminary screening of the isolates, the production of antibiotics was checked by submerged fermentation. Well diffusion method was used to check the antibiotic activity against the test microorganism. Isolates ACM 4, ACM 5 and ACM 8 showed their activity in secondary screening against tested microorganisms. Secondary metabolites from the isolated Actinomycetes proved to posses the ability to inhibit bacterial growth by formation of different sized halo zones. Isolate ACM 4 gave maximum zone of inhibition 21mm against E. coli and K. pneumoniae. The isolate ACM 5 and ACM 8 showed maximum zone of inhibition 25mm and 18mm respectively against S. aureus. Antimicrobial resistance has increased drastically in recent years in the developing countries. The ability of these metabolites to inhibit growth of test pathogenic bacteria has been attributed to the establishment of the fact that antibiotics can be manufactured from metabolites produced by Actinomycetes.

Keywords: Actinomycetes, Screening, Antimicrobial, Antibiotic activity.