ABSTRACT
Mangrove is a rich and underexploited ecosystem with great microbial diversity for discovery of novel and chemically diverse antimicrobial compounds. The goal of the study was to explore the pharmaceutical actinobacterial resources from mangrove soil and gain insight into the diversity and novelty of cultivable actinobacteria. Consequently, 10 mangrove soil samples were collected from Futian and Maoweihai of China, and the culture-dependent method was employed to obtain actinobacteria. A total of 539 cultivable actinobacteria were isolated and distributed in 39 genera affiliated to 18 families of 8 orders by comparison analysis of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences. The dominant genus was Streptomyces (16.0 %), followed by Microbacterium (14.5 %), Agromyces (14.3 %), and Rhodococcus (11.9 %). Other 35 rare actinobacterial genera accounted for minor proportions. Notably, 11 strains showed relatively low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities (< 98.65 %) with validly described species. Based on genotypic analyses and phenotypic characteristics, 115 out of the 539 actinobacterial strains were chosen as representative strains to test their antibacterial activities against "ESKAPE" bacteria by agar well diffusion method and antibacterial mechanism by the double fluorescent protein reporter system. Fifty-four strains in 23 genera, including 2 potential new species, displayed antagonistic activity in antibacterial assay. Meanwhile, 5 strains in 3 genera exhibited inhibitory activity on protein biosynthesis due to ribosome stalling. These results demonstrate that cultivable actinobacteria from mangrove soil are potentially rich sources for discovery of new antibacterial metabolites and new actinobacterial taxa.