What are marine actinomycetes?
Marine actinomycetes are efficient producers of new secondary metabolites that show a range of biological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, insecticidal and enzyme inhibition.
What are some uses for actinomycetes?
Actinomycetes are well known for the production of wide range of secondary metabolites of various medical values like antibiotics, antifungal, antiprotozoal, antiviral, anticholesterol, antihelminth, anticancer and immunosuppressant.
What is the role of actinomycetes in pharmacology?
Actinomycetes, one of the most diverse groups of filamentous bacteria, are well recognized for their metabolic versatility. The bioactive potential of these bacteria facilitates their survival even in distress and unfavourable ecological conditions.
Do actinomycetes only produce bioactive compounds?
Actinomycetes are virtually unlimited sources of novel compounds with many therapeutic applications and hold a prominent position due to their diversity and proven ability to produce novel bioactive compounds.
What are the morphology of actinomycetes?
4.4. 2 Actinomycetes
| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Size | 1–2 μm diameter |
| Morphology | Filamentous lengths of cocci |
| Gram stain | Gram positive |
| Respiration | Mostly aerobic, can be anaerobic |
What are the main features of actinomycetes colonies?
Actinomycetes form colonies that are leathery and many produce pigments and they have earthy smell. If you look under the microscope you will easily see the spores and you will easily recognize the corkscreww shape of streptomyces.
In what ways are Actinomycetes like other groups of bacteria and in what ways are they special?
They are able to form hyphae, usually considered a trait of fungi only. Structurally, in all other ways, they are prokaryotic cells that resemble bacteria and are susceptible to penicillin, which fungi are not. Examples of Actinomycetes include Streptomyces spp.
Do Actinomycetes form endospores?
Actinomyces species may form endospores, and while individual bacteria are rod-shaped, Actinomyces colonies form fungus-like branched networks of hyphae.
Do actinomycetes produce antibiotics?
Actinomycetes are well known as an inexhaustible source for antibiotics. Most of the known antimicrobials today were originally isolated from actinomycetes, especially from the genus Streptomyces.
Who first isolated the actinomycetes?
Actinomycetes were initially described by Ferdinand Cohn in 1875 when he observed a filamentous organism in a concretion from a human lacrimal duct and named it Streptothrix foersteri and later C.O. Harz in 1878 named an organism that he isolated from a case of bovine lumpy jaw, as Actinomyces bovis.