Halophilic and halotolerant actinomycetes from a marine saltern of Goa, India producing anti-bacterial metabolites.

Marine salterns are estuarine ecosystems in Goa, receiving inputs from riverine and marine waters. The Salinity fluctuates between 0 and 300 psu which makes it a conducive niche for salt tolerant and salt loving Actinomycetales. Halotolerant and halophilic Actinomycetales producing anti-bacterial metabolites were studied from crystallizer pond sediments of Ribandar saltern, Goa. Three media viz. Starch casein, R2A and Inorganic salt starch agar at four different salinities (35, 50, 75 and 100 psu) were used for isolation. R2A agar at 35 psu was the most preferred by hypersaline actinomycetes. The dominant group was halotolerant Streptomyces spp. others being rare actinomycetes viz. Nocardiopsis, Micromonospora and Kocuria spp. More than 50% of the isolates showed anti-bacterial activity against one or more of the fifteen human pathogens tested. Eight strains from 4 genera showed consistent anti-bacterial activity and studied in detail. Most halotolerant isolates grew from 0 to 75 psu, with optimum antibiotic production at 35 psu whereas halophiles grew at 20 to 100 psu with optimum antibiotic production at 35 psu. Four Streptomyces strains showed multiple inhibition against test organisms while four rare actinomycetes were specific in their inhibitory activity. This is the first report of a halophilic Kocuria sp., Nocardiopsis sp., and halotolerant Micromonospora sp. producing anti-bacterial compound(s) against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus citreus, and Vibrio cholerae, respectively. Sequential extraction with varying polarity of organic solvents showed that the extracts inhibited different test pathogens. These results suggest that halophilic and halotolerant actinomycetes from marine salterns are a potential source of anti-bacterial compounds.