Identification and antimicrobial properties of Pseudomonas from soil

As the emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria are continuously rising, there is a dire need for novel antibiotics. As pharmaceutical companies have become less involved in the discovery of new antibiotics, alternative resources have been explored. The Small World Initiative (SWI) has teamed up with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help alleviate the growing global antibiotic crisis of multi-drug resistant bacteria. The SWI has encouraged many around the country to search for novel antibiotics in the soil bacteria.

In this study we isolated antibiotic producing Pseudomonas isolates from soil in the Piney Woods. Over 300 isolates screened showed antibiotic properties against ESKAPE pathogens and of those, 30 isolates showed antibiotic properties against five clinical multi-drug resistant Salmonella strains. Additionally, we were able to extract antimicrobial compounds from the isolates and show inhibition towards five clinical multi-drug resistant Salmonella strains. Lastly, we did whole genome sequencing on ten of the antibiotic producing Pseudomonas isolates and compared the genomes of three to identify homologous genomic features for antibiotic production. Through genomic comparisons we were able to find unique features in the genomes that could potentially explain the varying inhibition abilities amongst the three isolates.