Actinomycetes-a group of antimicrobial producing bacteria-have been successfully cultured and characterized from the nest material of diverse arthropods. Some are symbionts that produce antimicrobial chemicals found to protect nest brood and resources from pathogenic microbes. Others have no known fitness relationship with their associated insects, but have been found to produce antimicrobials ...

The recent incidence of Ramorum blight, caused by Phytophthora ramorum, on many nursery crops has focused attention on improving management strategies against Phytophthora diseases in nurseries. We evaluated several chemical agents that target Oomycete pathogens for their capacity to inhibit infection of rhododendron or lilac leaves by P. ramorum (both NA strain 2027 mating type A2 and European...

Phytophthora pathogens are responsible for some of the most serious diseases of cocoa including phytophthora pod rot (PPR) or black pod, stem canker, leaf and seedling blight, chupon wilt and flower cushion infections. PPR causes 10–30% annual losses in production of cocoa beans globally, and much higher losses locally in particularly wet and humid conditions. Stem canker causes further losses ...

Microorganisms found in extreme environments have attracted a great deal of attention, due to the production by such microorganisms of various natural compounds and their specialized mechanisms for adaption to extreme environments1-4). But relatively little research work has been done on actinomycetes found in extreme environments5). For example, the nutritional requirements of actinomycetes un...

Bacteria, actinomycetes, yeasts, and fungi were screened for their ability to modify the structure of ansamitocins, a group of antitumor ansamycin antibiotics. Many strains, mostly actinomycetes, were found to convert ansamitocin P-3 to one or more products. These products, compounds A, B, C, and D, were prepared using Bacillus megaterium IFO 12108, Streptomyces coelicolor IFO 3807, Streptomyce...