Bioinformatic evaluation of the secondary metabolism of antistaphylococcal environmental bacterial isolates

Abstract

The increasing occurrence of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is exacerbated with a declining rate of antibiotic discovery, particularly those with new mechanisms of action. The decline in antibiotic discovery from traditional sources, such as soil actinobacteria, necessitates examination of lesser studied microbes. Here, we present a strategy to select for organisms that may have a propensity to result in new antistaphylococcal agents by using S. aureus as a bait organism, and selecting organisms that have a natural lytic activity towards it. We have isolated over 80 environmental isolates and typed these organisms using 16S rDNA sequence comparison and deployed bioinformatics to assess the secondary metabolic potential of the isolated antistaphylococcal bacteria using genomic sequences. Bioinformatic analysis highlights the enriched and unique suite of potential antibiotic polyketides and nonribosomal peptides and lantibiotic gene clusters from these organisms. Profiling organic microbial extracts further showed that many of the organisms from the 10 staphylolytic genera secrete agents with antistaphylococcal activity and may serve as new sources for future antistaphylococcal drug discovery.

Legacy effects of continuous chloropicrin-fumigation for 3-years on soil microbial community composition and metabolic activity

“…Chitinophaga, a genus belonging to phylum Bacteroidetes, is one of the biomarkers in F_3 (Additional file 1 : Date S1) and was first described by Sangkhobol and Skerman ( 1981 ) when including strains of filamentous, chitinolytic, and gliding bacteria that are transformed into spherical bodies during aging. Previously, studies showed that Chitinophaga was the only known isolated Bacteroidetes antibiotic producer (Wyatt et al 2013 ). Elansolid A was isolated as the first macrolide antibiotic from Chitinophaga sancti (Steinmetz et al 2011 ).…”

Natural Antimicrobials, their Sources and Food Safety

“…With special reference to plants, secondary metabolites are found to be healthy ingredients that work as antimicrobials or disease-controlling agents [4]. Owing to the potential of antimicrobials against pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, these secondary metabolites gain much importance for the application in food products [18][19][20]. They contain the properties of antimicrobials and antioxidants at the same time and so are considered as a beter option for food preservation as compared to synthetic preservatives [21].…”

An automated Genomes-to-Natural Products platform (GNP) for the discovery of modular natural products

“…A second Variovorax isolate ( V. paradoxus P4B (ref. 32 )) was found to possess another distinct NRPS/PKS gene cluster, corresponding to a putative lipopeptide ( Fig. 2b , Supplementary Fig.…”