ABSTRACT
This study describes actinobacteria isolated from two Red Sea sponges collected from Ras Mohammed, Sinai, Egypt. Traditional aerobic plate culture and molecular identification of the 16S rDNA region were used for this purpose. A total of 35 actinobacteria were isolated using media selective for actinobacteria. 1 6S rRNA gene sequence analysis of aIkaloidproducing isolates revealed bacteria with phylogenetic affiliations to Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes. The phylogenetic analysis of actinobacterial isolates showed that the isolates belonged to the genera Nocardiopsis sp., Kocuria sp., Curtobacterium sp., Micrococcus sp., Salinispora sp., and Brevibacterium sp. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the culturable actinobacteria isolated from a marine sponge from the Red Sea. In addition, our work provides an excellent resource of several candidate bacteria for production of novel pharmaceutically important compounds