Activity of Antibiotic Producing Bacteria Isolated from Rhizosphere Soil Region of Different Medicinal Plants

Abstract

The rhizosphere soil of medicinal plants is rich in microorganisms that develop antibiotics as natural mechanism of protection against other microbes that live in their vicinity. The present study aims to explore the production of antibacterial agents from rhizosphere soil bacteria of 11 medicinal plants and determine their activity against Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. Soil samples were collected and used to isolate antibiotic producing bacteria (APB). Those isolates (108) were first tested using Cross-streak method against test bacteria. Then, isolates that showed a positive antibacterial effect (12) were tested by antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) of their cell free supernatant (CFS) and their extracellular and intracellular secondary metabolites extraction which gave positive results. Staphylococcus aureus found to be the most sensitive test bacteria with inhibitory zones ranging from 13.5 - 19 mm. Moreover, combinatorial effect of isolates CFS with two organic acids (3% Acetic acid and 0.4 mg/ml Acetylsalicylic acid), two commercial antibiotics (0.016 mg/ml Augmentin and 0.128 mg/ml Doxycycline), and two pure antibiotics (10 mcg/disk Penicillin and 25mcg/disk Carbenicillin) was in vitro evaluated using AST. The combinations of CFS-carbenicillin showed a marked synergistic activity against all test bacteria. The presence of possible antibacterial agents as acetic acid, lactic acid and citric acid in CFS of APB was confirmed by HPLC analysis. Ultimately, in vitro antibacterial study for rhizosphere soil bacteria in this work suggests the possibility of using these bacterial metabolites in clinical infections caused by selected test bacteria, especially when they combine with antibiotics or organic acids.