Cellulase activity Cellulase activity was performed by shake flask method, with the medium composition of 0.5% (w/v) CMC, 0.2% (w/v) yeast extract, 0.5% (w/v) peptone, 0.05% (w/v) MgSO4, 0.05% (w/v) KH2PO4, 0.15% NaCl and 0.05% CaCl2 with pH 7. Prospective actinobacterial isolates (Streptomyces sp. NIOT-VKKMA02, Streptomyces sp. NIOT-VKKMA26 and Saccharopolyspora sp. NIOT-VKKMA22) were inoculated into production medium and incubated in shaker incubator at 28°C

for 7 days. After incubation, culture broth was filtered through Whatman No.1 filter paper and cell free supernatant was obtained by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 10 min. Cellulase activity was determined by the amount of glucose equivalents released in medium. 10 ml reaction A-1155463 in vitro Sepantronium datasheet mixture consisting of 0.5 ml CFS, 0.5 ml of 0.5% CMC dissolved in 0.1 M phosphate ICG-001 buffer (pH 7), remaining sterilized distilled water and incubated at 37°C for 15 min [29]. Reaction was stopped by adding 3, 5-dinitrosalicylic acid [30], and by boiling for 10 min. Concentration of released glucose was measured at 620 nm and the quantity was determined with glucose standard curve. One unit (U) of cellulase activity was defined as μg quantity of glucose equivalents liberated per min per

ml of enzyme under prescribed conditions. Protease activity Potential of the isolates to synthesize protease was performed by shake flask method, with medium composition of 0.2% (w/v) soluble starch, 0.05% (w/v) peptone, 0.05% (w/v) glucose, 0.05% (w/v) yeast extract, 0.05% (w/v) casein, 0.02% (w/v) soyabean meal, 0.06% (w/v) (NH4)2SO4, 0.08% (w/v) CaCO3 and 0.05% NaCl with pH 7. Prospective actinobacterial isolates (Streptomyces sp. NIOT-VKKMA02, Streptomyces sp. NIOT-VKKMA26 and Saccharopolyspora sp. NIOT-VKKMA22) were inoculated into production medium Fossariinae and incubated in shaker incubator at 28°C for 7 days. After incubation, culture broth was filtered through Whatman No.1

filter paper and cell free supernatant was obtained by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 10 min. Protease activity was determined by incubating the reaction mixture containing 0.1 ml CFS and 0.9 ml of 2% casein in 0.1 M NaOH-KH2PO4 buffer (pH 7) at 37°C for 30 min. Reaction was stopped by addition of 1.5 ml of 1 M trichloroacetic acid. After 15 min, the mixture was centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min and the protein concentration in supernatant was determined according to the method of Lowry et al. [31]. One unit (U) of protease activity is equivalent to μg of tyrosine liberated per ml of enzyme under prescribed conditions. Molecular identification of potential strains DNA isolation Genomic DNA of Streptomyces sp. NIOT-VKKMA02, Streptomyces sp. NIOT-VKKMA26 and Saccharopolyspora sp. NIOT-VKKMA22 was isolated by following the modified procedure of Kutchma et al. [32].