Small World Initiative Antibiotic Research

Throughout this experiment, we attempted to identify bacteria strains that exhibited antibiotic activity. To do this, we isolated soil bacteria from a soil sample. I chose my soil sample from an unadulterated, natural environment. I did not want a suburban sample influenced by chemicals and fertilizers. I hypothesized that a sample within a natural environment would have more microbial variance, and thus I chose to obtain a sample from a deciduous forest adjacent to a floodplain. We diluted the concentration of our strains with water. We allowed our strains to grow for a few days, and afterwards observed for zones of inhibition that represent a region where the bacteria cannot grow (thus showing antimicrobial activity). We then isolated these potential strains on a master plate. My sample contained 4 potential candidates. Then, we tested these promising samples of bacteria to observe their antimicrobial activity on ESKAPE pathogen relatives. Unfortunately, none of my candidates exhibited antibiotic activity towards the ESKAPE pathogen relatives. Thus, I made a streak plate using a classmate’s strain. When isolated, I will use staining methods (form of metabolic testing) to determine its cell wall composition. The cell wall composition is an important indicator of what species of bacteria is present. Once the type is identified, we will identify its genetic identity using using PCR analysis via gel electrophoresis and discover its phylogeny (family tree) via an online database with genomic information