UV-RESISTANT ACTINOBACTERIA FROM HIGH-ALTITUDE ANDEAN LAKES: ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTAGONISTIC ACTIVITIES.

FERRER, GABRIELA MÓNICA; FARÍAS, MARÍA EUGENIA; RASUK, MARÍA CECILIA; KURTH, DANIEL; PORTERO, LUCIANO RAÚL; ALBARRACÍN, VIRGINIA HELENA

PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2017 vol. 93 p. 865 - 880

0031-8655

Poly-extremophiles are present in a wide variety of extreme environments in which they must48 overcome various hostile conditions simultaneously such as high UV-B radiation, extreme pHs and49 temperatures, elevated salt and heavy-metal concentration; low-oxygen pressure and scarce nutrients.50 High Altitude Andean Lakes (between 2,000 and 4,000 m) is one example of this kind of ecosystems51 suffering from the highest total solar and UV-B radiation on Earth where an abundant and diverse52 poly-extremophilic microbiota was reported. In this work, we performed the first extensive isolation53 of UV-resistant actinobacteria from soils, water, sediments and modern stromatolites at HAALs.54 Based on the 16S rRNA sequence, the strains were identified as members of the genera Streptomyces,55 Micrococcus, Nesterenkonia, Rhodococcus, Microbacterium, Kokuria, Arthrobacter,56 Micromonospora, Blastococcus, Citrococcus and Brevibacterium. Most isolates displayed resistance57 to multiple environmental stress factors confirming their poly-extremophilic nature, and were able to58 produce effective antimicrobial compounds. HAALs constitute a largely unexplored repository of59 UV-resistant actinobacteria, with high potential for novel natural products biodiscovery.