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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2009, p. 6176-6186, Vol. 75, No. 19
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01034-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Isolation, Diversity, and Antimicrobial Activity of Rare Actinobacteria from Medicinal Plants of Tropical Rain Forests in Xishuangbanna, China{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Sheng Qin,1 Jie Li,1 Hua-Hong Chen,1,2 Guo-Zhen Zhao,1 Wen-Yong Zhu,1 Cheng-Lin Jiang,1 Li-Hua Xu,1 and Wen-Jun Li1*

Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education and Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources, Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091,1 Department of Chemistry, Chuxiong Normal College, Chuxiong, Yunnan 675000, People's Republic of China2

Received 6 May 2009/ Accepted 28 July 2009

Endophytic actinobacteria are relatively unexplored as potential sources of novel species and novel natural products for medical and commercial exploitation. Xishuangbanna is recognized throughout the world for its diverse flora, especially the rain forest plants, many of which have indigenous pharmaceutical histories. However, little is known about the endophytic actinobacteria of this tropical area. In this work, we studied the diversity of actinobacteria isolated from medicinal plants collected from tropical rain forests in Xishuangbanna. By the use of different selective isolation media and methods, a total of 2,174 actinobacteria were isolated. Forty-six isolates were selected on the basis of their morphologies on different media and were further characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed an unexpected level of diversity, with 32 different genera. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the isolation of Saccharopolyspora, Dietzia, Blastococcus, Dactylosporangium, Promicromonospora, Oerskovia, Actinocorallia, and Jiangella species from endophytic environments. At least 19 isolates are considered novel taxa by our current research. In addition, all 46 isolates were tested for antimicrobial activity and were screened for the presence of genes encoding polyketide synthetases and nonribosomal peptide synthetases. The results confirm that the medicinal plants of Xishuangbanna represent an extremely rich reservoir for the isolation of a significant diversity of actinobacteria, including novel species, that are potential sources for the discovery of biologically active compounds.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education and Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources, Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, People's Republic of China. Phone and fax: 86 871 5033335. E-mail: wjli{at}ynu.edu.cn

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 31 July 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2009, p. 6176-6186, Vol. 75, No. 19
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01034-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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