Pathogen Resistance in Soil Samples for Drug Discovery
Session Number
Project ID: CHEM 10
Advisor(s)
Dr. John Thurmond; Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
Chemistry
Start Date
22-4-2020 9:45 AM
End Date
22-4-2020 10:00 AM
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance has become a prevalent phenomenon and now poses a great threat to public health. To combat the threat of such diseases, the soil, which has billions of unidentified bacteria, has been used as a source for microbes with pathogenic resistance. This project aims to test for new soil bacteria that exhibit antimicrobial properties against resistant pathogens and can be viable candidates for new antibiotics. In the approach, soil samples were collected, and serial dilutions were conducted to extract individual bacterial colonies. After creating master plates from the isolated bacteria, the samples were screened against seven safe relatives of ESKAPE pathogens utilizing the spread-patch technique. The seven pathogens of focus were Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus raffinosus, Acinetobacter baylyi, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Enterococcus coli, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In total, seven bacterial samples were found to have significant antimicrobial properties. Four of these samples were resistant against Acinetobacter baylyi, two were resistant against Bacillus subtilis, and one was resistant against Pseudomonas fluorescens. Colonies that showed inhibition of an ESKAPE safe relative will be preliminarily identified using 16s rDNA gene. Further steps include identifying these bacteria as novel or not, and the extraction of the bioactive substances in these samples as possible novel antimicrobials.
Pathogen Resistance in Soil Samples for Drug Discovery
Antimicrobial resistance has become a prevalent phenomenon and now poses a great threat to public health. To combat the threat of such diseases, the soil, which has billions of unidentified bacteria, has been used as a source for microbes with pathogenic resistance. This project aims to test for new soil bacteria that exhibit antimicrobial properties against resistant pathogens and can be viable candidates for new antibiotics. In the approach, soil samples were collected, and serial dilutions were conducted to extract individual bacterial colonies. After creating master plates from the isolated bacteria, the samples were screened against seven safe relatives of ESKAPE pathogens utilizing the spread-patch technique. The seven pathogens of focus were Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus raffinosus, Acinetobacter baylyi, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Enterococcus coli, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In total, seven bacterial samples were found to have significant antimicrobial properties. Four of these samples were resistant against Acinetobacter baylyi, two were resistant against Bacillus subtilis, and one was resistant against Pseudomonas fluorescens. Colonies that showed inhibition of an ESKAPE safe relative will be preliminarily identified using 16s rDNA gene. Further steps include identifying these bacteria as novel or not, and the extraction of the bioactive substances in these samples as possible novel antimicrobials.