title: Multiple, novel biologically active endophytic actinomycetes isolated from upper Amazonian rainforests.
abstract: Microbial biodiversity provides an increasingly important source of medically and industrially useful compounds. We have isolated 14 actinomycete species from a collection of approximately 300 plant stem samples from the upper Amazonian rainforest in Peru. All of the cultured isolates produce substances with inhibitory activity directed at a range of potential fungal and bacterial pathogens. For some organisms, this activity is very broad in spectrum while other organisms show specific activity against a limited number of organisms. Two of these organisms preferentially inhibit bacterial test organisms over eukaryotic organisms. rDNA sequence analysis indicates that these organisms are not equivalent to any other cultured deposits in GenBank. Our results provide evidence of the untapped biodiversity in the form of biologically active microbes present within the tissues of higher plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bascom-Slack
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Babbs
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fenn
authors.forename: Joshua S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Bradley D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Hann
authors.forename: Jocelyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keehner
authors.forename: Elizabeth G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Kelley-Swift
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kembaiyan
authors.forename: Sun Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Puyao
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: David Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Light
authors.forename: Emily H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Michelle A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schorn
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vekhter
authors.forename: Lori-Ann
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Boulanger
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: Percy Núñez
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Gary A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Strobel
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Strobel
mesh_terms: D039903:Actinobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000898:Antibiosis; D044822:Biodiversity; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010568:Peru; D010802:Phylogeny; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014197:Trees / Q000382:microbiology*; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012329:RNA, Bacterial