Abstract 1452 Testing for Antibiotic Producing Bacteria in Soil

Andy D. Dozal and Daniel R. Marous Wittenberg University The United States of America [email protected] [email protected] Soil is one of the most biodiverse materials on Earth, having the potential to contain billions of microorganisms in just a single teaspoon. Within that teaspoon, there may be microorganisms that produce antibiotics, allowing these species to kill competition in their local habitats. However, antibiotics in the environment, whether from natural or manmade sources, can lead to antibiotic resistance. Overprescription and lack of education have been major contributors to this major medical problem. The more an antibiotic is used, the more resistant strains are selected, allowing them to recover and populate. An emerging resistant bacterial population means that there will be more patients going to the hospital and less effective medicine to treat what was once treatable. Currently, with widespread antibiotic resistance enmeshing physicians' pursuit of treating illnesses, new antibiotics must be found. Fortunately, soil is a repository for antibiotics and may even contain some antimicrobials that have yet to be discovered. In this study, we collected 508 individual bacterial colonies from across Springfield, OH, and we tested for antibacterial properties against Gram-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis and Gram-negative Escherichia coli. None of the 508 colonies we collected killed Gram-negative bacteria, but 27 killed Gram-positive S.epidermidis. We isolated genomic DNA from four of the producing colonies and the DNA was sequenced for species identification. The analysis revealed that the collected organisms are Mortierella alpina, a Pseudomonas species, and a Bascillus species. Thank you to the Virginia Ellis Franta Fund & the Wittenberg Chemistry Department