Antibiotic Development from Cultivation of Soil Microbes

Many of the antibiotics that we use today to treat bacterial infections originate from bacterial colonies. Certain microorganisms have the ability to secrete antibiotics to inhibit the spread and growth of other bacterial colonies, which is how certain antibiotics are produced. Since there are many different bacterial colonies in a small amount of soil, the environment is considered to be highly competitive. Bacterial colonies secrete antibiotics to combat other colonies for control of space and nutrients within the soil. These antibiotic secreting microbes can be obtained by collecting a soil sample and isolating the bacterial colonies. I obtained my soil sample below the deck of my parents house, which is a shady and damp location. Through bacterial isolation and testing potential candidates for antibiotics against safe relative tester strains in an aerobic lab setting. I have found that my candidates, PSD#5 and PSD#7 secrete antibiotics that inhibit the gram-positive tester strain Staphylococcus epidermidis and the species Bacillus subtilis and Mycobacterium smegmatis. This means that the antibiotics produced by candidates PSD#5 and PSD#7 could be used to treat infections brought on by the pathogens related to these tester strains. Infections including Staph infections, bacteremia/septicemia, and Tuberculosis.