Isolation and identification of Streptomyces sp. producing agroactive enzymes with biocontrol potential
Saroja Chhettri1,2, Gargi Sen3 and Arnab Sen1,2,3*
1Midnapore College, Midnapore, West Bengal 721101 (India) 2Department of Botany, University of North Bengal, Raja Rammohanpur, Siliguri-734013 (India) 3Bioinformatics Facility, University of North Bengal, Raja Rammohanpur, Siliguri-734013 (India) *Corresponding Author: arnab.sen@nbu.ac.in
ABSTRACT
The enzyme chitinase has potential application in the field of agriculture. The aim of the present study is the isolation, characterization and identification of the potential chitinase-producing bacteria from the Nagari farm tea garden of Darjeeling Hills. Around twelve actinobacterial strains were isolated and screened for their chitinase and cellulase activities followed by the antagonistic activity against fungal pathogen Fusarium sp. The potential isolate with antagonistic activity was then characterized and identified as Streptomyces sp. SDr 22. The isolate tolerated the NaCl concentration of 1% to 4% and could grow in the pH range of 5 to10 at an optimum temperature of 30ºC. The presence of chitinase-producing Streptomyces isolate in the tea garden of Darjeeling Hills with biocontrol activity has been explored in this study.