RESUMO
The present work was designed to isolate and characterise the actinobacteria in the Polar Front region of the Southern Ocean waters and species of Nocardiopsis and Streptomyces were identified. Among those, the psychrophilic actinobacterium, Nocardiopsis dassonvillei PSY13 was found to have good cellulolytic activity and it was further studied for the production and characterisation of cold-active cellulase enzyme. The latter was found to have a specific activity of 6.36 U/mg and a molar mass of 48 kDa with a 22.9-fold purification and 5% recovery at an optimum pH of 7.5 and a temperature of 10 °C. Given the importance of psychrophilic actinobacteria, N. dassonvillei PSY13 can be further exploited for its benefits, meaning that the Southern Ocean harbours biotechnologically important microorganisms that can be further explored for versatile biotechnological and industrial applications.