The Phenotypic and Molecular Identification of Phyllospheric Bacteria Possessing Antimicrobial Activity from Funtumia elastica (Preuss) Stapf.

Background: Unlike plant phytochemicals, little has been done to explore the metabolites from phyllosphere bacterial flora, some of which enabled them to survive interspecific competition through amensalism. This study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of metabolites from Phyllospheric Bacteria (PB) isolated from Funtumia elastica (FE), against selected bacterial and fungal pathogens. Phenotypic and molecular methods were used to identify the isolated phyllo-microbiota.
Methods: The PB were aseptically isolated by sonication. Their metabolites were obtained from the fresh overnight culture of the organisms. The cell-free supernatants containing the metabolites were used for antimicrobial assays against the pathogens. The DNA of the bacterial isolates were isolated using a NIMR-BIOTECH DNA extraction kit, while their 16S rRNA was amplified with the primer: 799F 5'-AACACGGATTA GATACC-3', 1193R 5'- ACGTCATCCCCACCTTCC-3', using SolisFast* Master Mix, (Solis Biodyne-Estonia). The BLAST of the sequence was done from the NCBI Gen-bank. The PB strains identified were submitted to NCBI and accession numbers were assigned to them.
Results: The phyllosphere of FE yielded 21 bacterial isolates: 7 Gram-positives and 14 Gram-negatives. The metabolites from these isolates showed varying degrees of bioactivity against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC29213), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 35659); Trychophyton rubrum , Candida albicans and Microsporum canis. Fifteen bioactive isolates sequenced yielded four genera, Enterobacter ( E. hormaechei 98.44%), Bacillus ( B. cereus 100%), Pontoea ( P. dispersa 99.72%), Staphylococcus ( S. arlettae 99.72%).
Conclusion: Bacteria from FE phyllosphere, produced metabolites antagonistic ( cidal ) to some human pathogens. This has great potential for possible drug discovery.
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