**Taxonomic Characterization and Secondary Metabolite Analysis of NEAU-wh3-1: An** *Embleya* **Strain with Antitumor and Antibacterial Activity**

**Han Wang 1,**†**, Tianyu Sun 1,**†**, Wenshuai Song 1, Xiaowei Guo 1, Peng Cao 1, Xi Xu 1, Yue Shen 1,2,\* and Junwei Zhao 1,\***


Received: 28 February 2020; Accepted: 18 March 2020; Published: 20 March 2020

**Abstract:** Cancer is a serious threat to human health. With the increasing resistance to known drugs, it is still urgent to find new drugs or pro-drugs with anti-tumor effects. Natural products produced by microorganisms have played an important role in the history of drug discovery, particularly in the anticancer and anti-infective areas. The plant rhizosphere ecosystem is a rich resource for the discovery of actinomycetes with potential applications in pharmaceutical science, especially *Streptomyces*. We screened *Streptomyces*-like strains from the rhizosphere soil of wheat (*Triticum aestivum* L.) in Hebei province, China, and thirty-nine strains were obtained. Among them, the extracts of 14 isolates inhibited the growth of colon tumor cell line HCT-116. Strain NEAU-wh-3-1 exhibited better inhibitory activity, and its active ingredients were further studied. Then, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity studies showed that strain NEAU-wh3-1 with high sequence similarities to *Embleya scabrispora* DSM 41855T (99.65%), *Embleya hyalina* MB891-A1T (99.45%), and *Streptomyces lasii* 5H-CA11T (98.62%). Moreover, multilocus sequence analysis based on the five other house-keeping genes (*atp*D, *gyr*B, *rpo*B, *rec*A, and *trp*B) and polyphasic taxonomic approach comprising chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic, morphological, and physiological characterization indicated that the isolate should be assigned to the genus *Embleya* and was different from its closely related strains, therefore, it is proposed that strain NEAU-wh3-1 may be classified as representatives of a novel species of the genus *Embleya*. Furthermore, active substances in the fermentation broth of strain NEAU-wh-3-1 were isolated by bioassay-guided analysis and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) analyses. Consequently, one new Zincophorin analogue together with seven known compounds was detected. The new compound showed highest antitumor activity against three human cell lines with the 50% inhibition (IC50) values of 8.8–11.6 μg/mL and good antibacterial activity against four pathogenic bacteria, the other known compounds also exhibit certain biological activity.

**Keywords:** Rhizosphere soil; *Embleya*; NEAU-wh-3-1; compound; antitumor activity; antibacterial activity
