Actinomycetes: potential bio-resource for human welfare: A review (original) (raw)

Microbial natural products are the origin of most of the antibiotics in the market today. There is an alarming scarcity of new antibiotics currently under development in the pharmaceutical industry. Still, microbial natural products remain the most promising source of novel antibiotics, although new approaches are required to improve the efficiency of the discovery process. Actinomycetes which are the prolific producers of antibi-otics and important suppliers to the pharmaceutical and other industry they are well known for their ability to produce secondary metabolites many of which are active against pathogenic microorganisms. It is only more recently that actinomycetes have become recognized as a source of novel antibiotics and anticancer agents with unusual structures and properties. They are a promising source of wide range of important enzymes, some of which are produced on an industrial scale, but many other remained to be harnessed. The application of enzymes in diverse biotechnological industries indicates a positive trend which needs to be satisfied with the discovery of novel enzymes and metabolites. Since very few enzymes have been potentially utilize data the industrial level; there is a huge scope for the development of robust and low cost enzymes. Actinomycetes are a reservoir of important enzymes and metabolites due to their versatile genetic repertory. They perform microbial transformations of organic compounds, a field of great commercial value. Members of many genera of actinomycetes have potential for use in the bioconversion of underutilized agricultural and urban wastes into high-value chemical products.