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The Diversity and Anti-Microbial Activity of Endophytic Actinomycetes Isolated from Medicinal Plants in Panxi Plateau, China

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Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicinal plants are sources of biologically active compounds, providing raw material for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and fragrance industries. The endophytes of medicinal plants participate in biochemical pathways and produce analogous or novel bioactive compounds. Panxi plateau in South-west Sichuan in China with its unique geographical and climatological characteristics is a habitat of a great variety of medicinal plants. In this study, 560 endophytic actinomycetes were isolated from 26 medicinal plant species in Panxi plateau. 60 isolates were selected for 16S rDNA-RFLP analysis and 14 representative strains were chosen for 16S rDNA sequencing. According to the phylogenetic analysis, seven isolates were Streptomyces sp., while the remainder belonged to genera Micromonospora, Oerskovia, Nonomuraea, Promicromonospora and Rhodococcus. Antimicrobial activity analysis combined with the results of amplifying genes coding for polyketide synthetase (PKS-I, PKS-II) and nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) showed that endophytic actinomycetes isolated from medicinal plants in Panxi plateau had broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and potential natural product diversity, which further proved that endophytic actinomycetes are valuable reservoirs of novel bioactive compounds.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the foundation of National Science Program of China (Project no. 30570062) and the fund of Sichuan provincal science and technology international cooperative project. We sincerely acknowledge kindness support from the Key Laboratory of Protection and Utilization of Biological Resources, Tarim university and Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, The Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, when our laboratory was damaged in 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, College of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, 625000, Yaan, People’s Republic of China

    Ke Zhao, Tongwei Guan, Qiang Chen & Xiaoping Zhang

  2. Department of Applied Chemistry and Microbiology, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Petri Penttinen & Kristina Lindström

  3. Key Laboratory of Protection and Utilization of Biological Resources in Tarim Basin of Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps, Tarim University, 843300, Alar, People’s Republic of China

    Tongwei Guan & Lili Zhang

  4. Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, The Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, 361005, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Xiao & Jun Xu

  5. Department of Plant Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA

    Gary A. Strobel

Authors
  1. Ke Zhao
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  2. Petri Penttinen
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  3. Tongwei Guan
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  4. Jing Xiao
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  5. Qiang Chen
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  6. Jun Xu
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  7. Kristina Lindström
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  8. Lili Zhang
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  9. Xiaoping Zhang
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  10. Gary A. Strobel
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lili Zhang or Xiaoping Zhang.

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Zhao, K., Penttinen, P., Guan, T. et al. The Diversity and Anti-Microbial Activity of Endophytic Actinomycetes Isolated from Medicinal Plants in Panxi Plateau, China. Curr Microbiol 62, 182–190 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-010-9685-3

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