Isolation, identification, optimization, and metabolite profiling of Streptomyces sparsus VSM-30

Deep sea sediment samples of Bay of Bengal (Visakhapatnam) have been analyzed for actinomycetes as an elite source to screen for the production of bioactive metabolites. The actinomycetes strain VSM-30 has an exciting bioactivity profile and was isolated during our systemic screening of marine actinomycetes. It was identified as Streptomyces sparsus based on morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular approaches. Response surface methodology regression analysis was carried out to fit the experimental data of each response by the second-order polynomial. The results have proven right interaction among process variables at optimized values of incubation time at 12 days, pH at 8, temperature at 30 °C, concentrations of starch at 1%, and tryptone at 1% and the data have been adequately fitted into the second-order polynomial models. Under these conditions, the responses (zones of inhibition) of plant pathogenic fungi Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, and Penicillium citrinum were also matched with experimental and predicted results. Chemotypic analysis of ethyl acetate extract of the strain was done using LC-Q-TOF-MS revealed the presence of bioactive compounds including tryptophan dehydrobutyrine diketopiperazine, maculosin, 7-o-demethyl albocycline, albocycline M-2, and 7-o-demethoxy-7-oxo albocycline in a negative ion mode. The ethyl acetate extract of actinobacterium has been subjected to gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) revealed the presence of diverse compounds such as dotriacontane, tetracosane 11-decyl-, diheptyl phthalate, 1-hexadecanesulfonyl chloride, L-alanyl-L-tryptophan, phthalic acid ethyl pentyl ester, 4-trifluoroacetoxyhexadecane, and 1H-imidazole 4,5-dihydro-2,4-dimethyl. Hence, the ethyl acetate extract of Streptomyces sparsus VSM-30 may have antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activities due to the presence of secondary metabolites in ethyl acetate extract. The study also supports marine sediment samples of Bay of Bengal, a promising marine ecosystem remained to be explored for new bioactive compounds.