Rare Actinomycetes Isolated from Desert Soils

Abstract

A total of 335 actinomycete strains were isolated from 9 soil samples collected at Mojave Desert, California. A large number of actinomycete colonies emerged on the agar plates when cultured at 37°C than 27°C. Among 50 strains taken randomly from the isolates nine strains were rare actinomycetes containing meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall. They were considered to belong to genera Microbispora, Nocardia, Microtetraspora, Amycolatopsis, Actinomadura and Saccharothrix. The five strains could grow even at 50°C.