Abstract

CARDOSO-MARTINEZ, Faviola et al. Antibacterial and cytotoxic bioactivity of marine Actinobacteria from Loreto Bay National Park, Mexico. Hidrobiológica [online]. 2015, vol.25, n.2, pp.223-229. ISSN 0188-8897.

Production of bioactive compounds is intimately linked to the ecology of the producing organisms. Taking this into account, the objective of this study was to evaluate the bioactive properties of isolated Actinobacteria from sea sediments of a high biodiversity zone; under the hypothesis that the ecological characteristics of this site stimulate the presence of unique and bioactive strains that can be screened for new compounds with antibiotic and anticancer properties. The elected zone was the Loreto Bay National Park in the Gulf of California Mexico, a protected natural area, with high diversity of flora and fauna. The bioactive properties of strains from this area were different to that reported elsewhere. The cytotoxic activity tested by in vitro assays was present in 40% of the tested strains and antibacterial activity in 71% of all evaluated strains. This percentage of active strains resulted unusually high when it was compared to similar studies from other regions of the world. This supports the hypothesis of the influence of ecological characteristics of the area of study on the presence of unique and bioactive Actinobacteria. Thereby, the Actinobacteria community found in Loreto Bay, in the Gulf of California, which presented unusual bioactive properties, represents a potential source for obtaining novel compounds with antibacterial and anticancer activity.

Keywords : Antibiotic activity; Gulf of California; Loreto Bay; Marine Actinobacteria; Salinispora.

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