Phylogenetic Analysis of Beta-Glucanase Producing Actinomycetes Strain TBG-CH22-A Comparison of Conventional and Molecular Morphometric Approach

Actinomycetes are inexhaustible producers of commercially valuable metabolites, and are continually screened for beneficial compounds. The taxonomic and phylogenetic study of novel actinomycetes strains is mostly based on conventional methods and primary DNA structure of 16s rRNA. Although 16s rRNA sequence is well accepted in phylogeny studies, its secondary structures have not been widely used. RNA Secondary structure especially contains molecular morphometric information which is not found in primary sequences. In this scenario, a comparative study based on both conventional and 16s rRNA structure-based molecular morphometric approach was conducted for identifying the phylogeny of actinomycete isolate TBG-CH22 isolated from the Western Ghats areas in Kerala. The strain was found to a potent producer of beta-glucanase enzymes on the basis of preliminary screening. The taxonomic identification was done with conventional methods, sequence analysis, and molecular morphometric properties of 16s rRNA secondary structure. On account of conventional and primary sequence analysis, the isolate TBG-CH22 was identified as Streptomyces species as it delineated the evolutionary relationship of the strain within taxa. While comparing with the minimum free energy (MFE) values of 16s rRNA secondary structure of strain TBG-CH22 and five selected the phylogenetic neighbouring species, the strain Streptomyces bikiniensis showed lowest MFE value and confirmed the closest phylogenetic neighbour of strain TBG-CH22.