Streptomyces rugosispiralis sp. nov., a Novel Actinobacterium Isolated from Peat Swamp Forest Soil That Produces Ansamycin Derivatives and Nocardamines

Actinomycetes, especially the genus Streptomyces, are one of the most promising sources of bioactive natural products. In this study, a novel Streptomyces strain, RCU-064(T), was isolated from a soil sample collected from a peat swamp forest in Thailand. Strain RCU-064(T) showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (99.06%) with Streptomyces malaysiensis NBRC 16446(T). Based on a polyphasic approach, strain RCU-064T represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces rugosispiralis sp. nov. is proposed. The chemical isolation of the crude ethyl acetate extracts of the strain led to the isolation of six compounds: (1) geldanamycin, (2) 17-O-demethylgeldanamycin, (3) reblastatin, (4) 17-demethoxyreblastatin, (5) nocardamine, and (6) dehydroxynocardamine. These compounds were evaluated for their biological activities. All compounds showed no antimicrobial activity against tested microorganisms used in this study. Compounds (1)-(4) displayed cytotoxic activity against the NCI-H187 cell line, with IC50 values ranging from 0.045-4.250 mu g/mL. Cytotoxicity against the MCF-7 cell line was found in compounds (1) and (3) with IC50 values of 3.51 and 1.27 mu g/mL, respectively. Compounds (5) and (6) exhibited cytotoxicity only against Vero cells (IC50 of 16.57 mu g/mL) and NCI-H187 cells (IC50 of 13.96 mu g/mL), respectively. These results indicate that peat swamp forest soil remains a promising reservoir of novel actinomycetes capable of producing bioactive natural products.

Automated summary

A novel strain of Streptomyces, named Streptomyces rugosispiralis sp. nov., was isolated from soil samples collected from a peat swamp forest in Thailand. The strain was found to produce six compounds, which showed various biological activities including cytotoxicity against certain cell lines. This study highlights the potential of peat swamp forest soil as a source of novel actinomycetes with bioactive natural products.