Isolation and screening of actinomycetes from Sundarbans soil for antibacterial activity

A total of 55 actinomycetes isolates from soil sample of Karanjal region in Sundarbans were characterized for morphological identification and antimicrobial activity. Four general such as Actinomyces, Nocardia, Streptomyces and Micromonospora with total numbers of isolates were 27, 14, 11 and 3, respectively, were identified from the sample. Twenty actinomycetes isolates produced antibiotic against one or more gram-negative pathogenic bacteria such as Shigella boydii, Shigella flexneri-AN-31153, Shigella sonnei, Pseudomonas, Shigella dysenterriae type-1, Vibrio cholerae-0139, Salmonella typhi-Ao-12014, Plesiomonas, Hafnia spp., Vibrio cholerae-OGET, and Escherichia coli-186LT. The study indicated that Sundarbans’ soil had diverse group of actinomycetes and three of the tested isolates had a broader spectrum antibacterial activity which showed potential as a source of antibiotics for pharmaceutical interest.