Antitumor activity of Actinobacteria isolated in marine sediment from Todos Santos Bay, Baja California, Mexico

The bioactivity of culturable Actinobacteria from marine sediment of the Todos Santos Bay, Mexico was studied, and bacteria were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequences. The strains were cultured in 1 L of culture media A1 and tested for the effects of seawater on growth. The organic components of cultures were extracted with XAD-7 amberlite and eluted with acetone. The extracts were separated by flash chromatography on C-18 silica gel. The crude extracts and the fractions were tested against colorectal cancer cells HCT-116. In total, twenty six strains were cultured and identified, divided into ten operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with 100% sequence identity, representing 3 families in the order Actinomycetales, belonging to the genus Streptomyces (77%), Micromonospora (20%) and Nocardia (3%); six of those OTUs had not been reported before. Nineteen percent of the crude extracts of the Streptomyces genus showed cytotoxic activity in a range of IC₅₀ of 69.0 to £ 0.076 mg·ml^-1. The most active fractions contained compounds identified by their molecular weight and fragmentation patterns as monactin and pamamycin derivatives.