I. Saadoun et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 491-497
Copyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/AS/
496
The antifungal activity of the culture extract is likely
due to the production of an antibiotic, though such a
metabolite produced by S. aburaviensis R9 appears to
not be a broad-spectrum antibiotic, but more specific
towards certain species of fungi. While growth inhibition
of some of the test species of fungi (e.g., Colletrotichum
acutatum (CaGoff); C. fragariae (Cf63) and C. gloeo-
sporioides (CG162) occurred in the presence of the cul-
ture extract, there was little to no activity towards the
Gram-negative bacteria fish pathogens used in this study
(Edwardsiella ictaluri and Flavobacterium columnare
isolate 1016). A previous study by Raytapadar and Paul
[28] determined that another isolate of Streptomyces
aburaviensis from Indian soil produced an antifungal
antibiotic, and they identified the isolate as Streptomyces
aburaviensis var. ablastmyceticus (MTCC 2469). An-
other study by Thumar et al. [29] identified antibiotic
production by a halotolerant alkaliphilic Streptomyces
aburaviensis strain Kut-8 that inhibited the growth of the
Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis. At present, it
is unknown if the antibiotic production of S. aburavien-
sis R9 is similar or identical to those cited in the previ-
ous studies above. Future isolation and characterization
of the active antifungal metabolite(s) would determine
these properties. Additional studies would also aid in
determining if the active antifungal metabolite(s) pro-
duced by S. aburaviensis R9 is also responsible for the
phytotoxic activity observed towards the plants A. stolo-
nifera and L. sativa and the cyanobacterium P. perornata.
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mr. Dewayne Harries provided technical support for the fungicide
assay. Appreciation is extended to University of Sharjah/UAE and to
Jordan University of Science and Technology for administrative sup-
port.
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