Marine actinomycetes have become an important source of
structurally unique secondary metabolites1 including many
with potent biological acitvities. Among the actinomycetes
frequently recovered from marine samples are members
assignable to the genus Streptomyces, a diverse group of soil
bacteria that account for the majority of microbially derived
antibiotics discovered as of 2002.2 Although the genus
Streptomyces is best known from terrestrial soils, phylogenetically related groups have been reported from marine
samples including some that require seawater for growth3
suggesting a high level of marine adaptation