Co-culturing of Marine and Terrestrial Actinomycetesto Obtain Novel Secondary Metabolites

Co-culturing of actinomycetes is a classical approach used to enhance bioactivity. In this study, co-culturing of terrestrial and marine actinomycetes was performed to obtain increased anticancer cytotoxic activity. Crude extract prepared from co-cultured isolates showed increased anticancer activity. Although normal and healthy actinomycetes filament was observed during co-culture, spore formation was suppressed greatly by co-culturing. Crude extract of co-culture isolates demonstrated the IC50 of 20 μg/ml, while the monoculture of isolates showed the IC50 of 40 μg/ml. Both the isolate were greatly diverse from each other, morphologically and biochemically. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on co-culture of marine and terrestrial actinomycetes enhance the bioactivity. During co culturing organisms compete each other for their survival rather individually. However, further studies are required to identify the variation in the composition of secondary metabolites produced by them during co-culturing.