Progress in the Bio-diversity Studies of Culturable Marine Actinobacteria

Abstract:

Marine actinobacteria are novel sources for drug discovery and active natural products. Since the functional diversity of active metabolites from marine actinobacteria originates from the Bio-diversity of this important group of gram-positive bacteria, studies on the diversity of culturable marine actinobacteria are of great importance. In this review, the progress in the diversity studies of marine actinobacteria, especially the research in the marine sponge-associated actinomycetes, deep sea actinomycetes and the indigenous marine actinomycetes was reported. Meahwhile, the isolation techniques including the pre-treatment of samples and the selection of media were highlighted. The cultivation of as yet unculturable marine actinobacteria was discussed, and the importance of establishing regional centers for marine actinobacteria strain and gene resources was emphasized.