The actinomycete strain SA198 was isolated from a Saharan
soil sample collected at Tamanrasset in southern Algeria (latitude
22◦4907N, longitude 5◦2556E, altitude 1370 m). The dry
soil sample was suspended in sterile distilled water and diluted.
Aliquots (0.2 ml) of each dilution were spread on the surface of
chitin–vitamins agar (Hayakawa and Nonomura 1987) supplemented
with actidione (50gml−1). The plates were incubated at
30 ◦C for 2 weeks.