Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2013) 2(6): 113-116 113 Original Research Article Screening of Actinomycetes from biodegraded buildings material and their antibacterial potential Garima Arya, P. Kaushik and Padma Singh Department of Botany and Microbiology, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, 249407 Uttarkhand, India *Corresponding author e-mail: purshotam.kaushik@gmail.com, garimaaryaphd@gmail.com ABSTRACT Introduction According to Bergey s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology volume IV, the actinomycetes are Gram positive filamentous bacteria having G+C (<55%) content in their DNA. The name actinomycete was derived from Greek word aktis (a ray) and mykes (fungus). The actinomycetes are most widely distributed group of microbial consortia found in nature which primarily inhabit the soil (Manjula et al., 2009). These have been reported to be most common antibiotic producing microorganisms found in soil. Actinomycetes provided about two third part (more than 4,000) naturally occurring antibiotics discovered including many of those important in medicine such as aminoglycoside, actinomycin, anthracycline, lactam, chloramphnicol, macroides, peptides and tetracycline (Wakesman, 1968). These bioactive compounds have highly commercial value and continue to be routinely screened for new bioactive compounds. Almost 80% of the world s antibiotics are known to come from actinomycetes mostly from the genera Streptomyces, and Micromonospora (Pandey et al., 2004). According to world health organization, regular uses of antibiotics have led to the generation of antibiotics resistance in many bacterial and fungal pathogens. Thus drug resistant strains of pathogen emerge quickly than the rate of discovery of new antibiotics. This study focussed on the screening of actinomycetes from soil and assessed their antibacterial potential against pathogenic bacteria. ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 6 (2013) pp. 113-116 http://www.ijcmas.com Keywords Actinomycetes; metabolites; antibacterial potential. In this work three isolates of actinomycetes, named A 11 , A 20 and A 27 out of twenty nine screened for antibacterial activity were found to be more effective. All the three isolates were found Gram positive rods. These were subjected to secondary screening and the isolate A 11 was found to be most effective against test bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Production of antibacterial metabolites was carried out by submersed fermentation process and extracellular metabolite was extracted in solvent ethyl acetate. Their role as new antimicrobial drugs has been discussed.