Ecobiology and distribution of Streptomyces species from distinctive metal polluted sediment of tropical estuary, Northwest coast of India

The present study aims to isolate diverse actinomycetes communities from the estuarine sediments of Patalganga located at Northwest coast of India. Total 40 actinomycetes were isolated from 24 sediment samples by dilution plating on six different isolation media. Among them, morphologically 18 distinct selected isolates of actinomycetes were verified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and identified as Streptomyces spp. The relationship between diversity of total actinomycetes population (TAP) and its antagonistic behaviour with the physico-chemical characteristics of sediment samples were investigated. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the influencing physico-chemical factors comprises of sediment temperature, sediment pH, organic carbon and heavy metals. The results of statistical analysis showed that TAP is positively correlated (p < 0.01) with sediment organic carbon whereas, negatively correlated with Cr (p < 0.05) and Mn (p < 0.01). Based on Principle component Analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis results, the obtained six stations can be divided into three groups. Among them mobile fraction of metals, TAP could be the main factor reflecting the lower and middle estuary. The recovery of large number of actinomycete isolates suggests that Patalganga Estuary could be potential source of bioactive compounds with biosynthetic capabilities.