An effective method based on wet-heat treatment for the selective isolation of Micromonospora from estuarine sediments.

Several methods for the isolation of Micromonospora from soil samples have been developed; however, it is unclear whether these methods are optimal for estuarine samples. In this study, we optimized the conditions of a wet-heat method for the selective isolation of Micromonospora from estuarine sediments. Sediments were collected from the Arakawa River (estuarine sediments) and Tokyo Bay (marine sediments). Sediment samples were wet-heated at 45, 55, or 65 °C for 30 min and then incubated at 27 °C for 3 weeks. After incubation, most of the actinomycete colonies were macroscopically determined to be of the genus Micromonospora or Streptomyces. In contrast to the treatment at 55 °C, treatment at 65 °C drastically reduced the number of Streptomyces colonies but increased the number of Micromonospora colonies from the estuarine sediments. This procedure allowed us to grow cultures that were composed of more than 90 % Micromonospora. In addition, treatment at 65 °C did not affect the diversity of Micromonospora species compared with treatment at 55 °C. These results indicate that the wet-heat method, which involves pre-treating the sediment at 65 °C for 30 min, is a very simple and effective method for the selective enrichment of a large number of diverse Micromonospora from estuarine sediments. Our results may lead to the isolation of new Micromonospora species, which produce novel bioactive compounds, from different estuarine sediments.