Cave Soil Streptomyces sp. strain YC69 Antagonistic to Chilli Fungal Pathogens Exhibits In Vitro Anticancer Activity Against Human Cervical Cancer Cells.

Cancer is one of the fatal diseases and has high mortality worldwide, and the major drawback with the cure is the side effects from the chemotherapeutic agents. The increased multidrug resistance among microbial pathogens is a serious threat to plant and animal health. There is an urgent need for an alternative that can battle against pathogens and can be used for cancer treatment. Presently, actinomycetes were isolated from cave soil, and the crude extract obtained from the potent isolate was analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) to identify bioactive metabolites. The crude extract was examined for in vitro antimicrobial activity on human pathogens and antifungal activity on plant pathogens. The isolate Streptomyces sp. strain YC69 exhibited antagonistic activity and antimicrobial activity in a dose-dependent manner, with the highest inhibition in Staphylococcus aureus. GC-MS revealed many bioactive compounds, and HPTLC depicted metabolite fingerprints. The antifungal activity exhibited a delayed lag phase in growth curve assay and distorted and collapsed cells of Fusarium oxysporum in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. In the MTT assay, the IC 50 of 41.98 µg/ml against HeLa cells was obtained with clear evidence for deformed cells and blebbing of the cell membrane. The results from the current study suggest that the crude extract from Streptomyces sp. strain YC69 contains antimicrobial metabolites that can inhibit pathogenic microbes in plants and humans. The MTT assay results conclude that further studies on purification may lead to the use of Streptomyces sp. strain YC69 as a source for anti-oncogenic compounds.