Isolation of antibiotic producing bacteria from soil and identification by 16S rRNA gene sequencing

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance has become a challenging issue in medical treatment process. A large portion the novel antibiotics are derived from soil microbes as soil being a primary source. Hence, to isolate novel antibiotic agent, soil sample was screened in several steps and one isolate showed antimicrobial activity against the growth of two out of ten selected the test organisms (Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis). The isolated bacteria was later identified as Serratia sp. Genotypic characterization was later carried out by amplifying the 16S rRNA gene of the isolate using universal primers in PCR mehtod. The amplified 16S rRNA gene of the isolate was sequenced using Sanger sequencing method and compared to the NCBI nucleotide database. The isolate had highest similarities with Serratia marcescens subsp. sakuensis. The isolate showed good antimicrobial activity but requires further characterization to determine its potentiality to be used as a new antibiotic for commercial production.