Isolation and Identification of Pigment Producing Actinomycete Saccharomonospora azurea SJCJABS01

Abstract

Given the rising demand for biological pigments, especially of microbial origin – the present study was conducted so as to report a potential source for the extraction of microbial pigment. The main objective was to isolate and identify a pigment–producing actinomycete because pigment production is prevelant in this group. A powdery, greenish–blue colony with a chalky azure aerial mass was isolated from one of the many rhizosphere soil samples. Upon preliminary investigation, viz. colony characterization and grams staining, the suspected colony was observed to have a filamentous margin with a slightly raised elevation and gram–positive filamentous hyphae.Biochemical analyses of the organism revealed positive results for carbohydrate fermentation and Triple Sugar Iron (TSI) test with no signs of gas production during the former but gas & H­2­S production during the latter. The identity of the isolate was established via 16S rDNA and phylogeny analysis, which strongly suggested it was Saccharomonospora azurea. Limited research pertaining to morphology, physiology, genomics and secondary metabolite production with no reports on the physicochemical properties of the pigment produced by S. azureaadequately suggests that it is relatively novel. Hence, further studies related to the same could be beneficial to the scientific community.