Exploring the Production of Bioactive Compounds from Iron Curtain Cave Microbes for New Drug Discoveries

This project provides knowledge about cave bacterial communities and their potential for bioactive compounds. Caves are ideal environments to look for bioactive compounds as they have limited nutrients. Often with harsh conditions for microorganisms, they are also less exposed to humans, increasing the likelihood of undiscovered antimicrobials. The purpose of this project was to isolate and screen bacteria for antimicrobial activity from environmental samples collected from the Iron Curtain Cave in Chilliwack BC. After collection of samples, the bacteria were plated for isolation onto Actinomycete Isolation and R2A media and incubated at 4C for four weeks. After the growth of colonies was apparent, the microscopic and macroscopic morphologies of the bacteria were recorded and then they were identified as either Gram positive or negative. Each microorganism was then plated onto Actinomycete, R2A, Hickey Tresner and V8 juice agar in preparation for screening. The plug assay technique was used for screening these cave bacteria against multi-drug resistant bacteria; Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and a eukaryotic cell, Candida albican, to see if the cave microbes could produce bioactive compounds that can destroy these microorganisms. So far, about 80 different microbes have been isolated and await further screening procedures. These bioactive compounds from cave bacteria could be a source for new antibiotics