Characterization of Two Novel Antibiotic-Producing Strains of Agromyces and Arthrobacter
Major
Biology
Submission Type
Poster
Area of Study or Work
Biology
Faculty Advisor
Loralyn Cozy
Location
CNS Atrium
Start Date
4-13-2024 8:30 AM
End Date
4-13-2024 9:45 AM
Abstract
Antibiotics are extremely important in modern medicine, but antibiotic resistant bacteria have evolved at an alarming rate. Because of this, there is a push in scientific communities to find antibiotic-producing bacteria in the hopes that the secondary metabolites that are produced will be able to kill strains of pathogens that have been shown to have antibiotic resistance called ESKAPE pathogens. Environmental samples were swabbed and transferred to 10% TSA and actinomycete isolation agar plates and allowed to incubate for 5 days at 25°C. Diverse colonies from each set of plates were grown separately and tested against the ESKAPE pathogens. A ring of inhibition is produced if the isolate is able to kill the pathogen that it is exposed to. Four isolates that produced this zone of inhibition were further tested. They were identified by 16s rRNA sequencing and characterized by microscopy. It was found that each of the isolates belonged to different genera. To determine the effectiveness of the secondary metabolites produced by the isolates, an organic extraction was performed to isolate the secondary metabolites. Each isolate was extracted with ethyl acetate and hexane and spotted onto a plate. Each plate was layered with the ESKAPE pathogen that the respective bacteria killed previously and was incubated for 2-3 days. A ring of inhibition is produced if the secondary metabolite is able to kill the pathogen that it is exposed to. If the isolate was able to produce a ring of inhibition, then the isolate’s secondary metabolites would be considered efficient in killing that respective ESKAPE pathogens. All the strains were able to produce a ring of inhibition in one or two of the extraction solutions. The isolates were then sent for Ilumina sequencing to determine the genome, and fluorescence microscopy was done to determine the cellular morphology of the isolates.
Characterization of Two Novel Antibiotic-Producing Strains of Agromyces and Arthrobacter
CNS Atrium
Antibiotics are extremely important in modern medicine, but antibiotic resistant bacteria have evolved at an alarming rate. Because of this, there is a push in scientific communities to find antibiotic-producing bacteria in the hopes that the secondary metabolites that are produced will be able to kill strains of pathogens that have been shown to have antibiotic resistance called ESKAPE pathogens. Environmental samples were swabbed and transferred to 10% TSA and actinomycete isolation agar plates and allowed to incubate for 5 days at 25°C. Diverse colonies from each set of plates were grown separately and tested against the ESKAPE pathogens. A ring of inhibition is produced if the isolate is able to kill the pathogen that it is exposed to. Four isolates that produced this zone of inhibition were further tested. They were identified by 16s rRNA sequencing and characterized by microscopy. It was found that each of the isolates belonged to different genera. To determine the effectiveness of the secondary metabolites produced by the isolates, an organic extraction was performed to isolate the secondary metabolites. Each isolate was extracted with ethyl acetate and hexane and spotted onto a plate. Each plate was layered with the ESKAPE pathogen that the respective bacteria killed previously and was incubated for 2-3 days. A ring of inhibition is produced if the secondary metabolite is able to kill the pathogen that it is exposed to. If the isolate was able to produce a ring of inhibition, then the isolate’s secondary metabolites would be considered efficient in killing that respective ESKAPE pathogens. All the strains were able to produce a ring of inhibition in one or two of the extraction solutions. The isolates were then sent for Ilumina sequencing to determine the genome, and fluorescence microscopy was done to determine the cellular morphology of the isolates.