Interspecies interactions of halophilic and halotolerant actinomycetes: An example from a salt

Interspecies interaction of actinomycetes will express new gene clusters and may therefore affect the pigmentation, sporulation and production of secondary metabolites. Actinomycetes strains were isolated from Howze Soltan Salt Lake. Binary actinomycete interaction assay was conducted to evaluate its effect on colony morphology and antibiotic production. The molecular identification of the induced strains was performed. A total of 18% of isolates induced antibiotic production of 22% of the other strains against methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 44 % of them inhibited that of 31 % of antibiotic production in other actinomycete strains. The extract of the selected strains had an inhibitory effect on the pathogen growth. Based on molecular identification, the selected isolates, called act 32, shared 98% similarity with Streptomyces peucetius. It is expected that by screening of actinomycetes from untouched environments and co-culture method, new metabolites can be found to treat antibiotic-resistant infectious diseases.