Discipline: Chemistry & Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: STEM Research
- Fisk University
Co-Author(s): Taylor Harris, Oreoluwa Onabolu and Dustin Gibson, Fisk University, Nashville, TN
Actinomycetes are Gram-positive bacteria that are known to produce bioactive secondary metabolites that are useful in medicine. For over 50 years most of the drugs that were obtained were from terrestrial sources. However, with a decline in the number of new drugs from these sources the ocean was the next source of potentially new pharmaceuticals. The ocean has a rich untapped biodiversity and has been shown to produce new bioactive compounds. In this study, the diversity of cultivable marine sediment-derived microorganisms was examined and their potential as cytotoxic agents against microbial indicators and mammalian tumor cells was investigated. The microorganisms were inoculated on three different isolation media to enhance the diversity of cultivable microbes. Of all the microorganisms isolated, 11 exhibited antimicrobial activities. These 11 microorganisms were grown in large scale fermentations and the identification of the bioactive chemical entities from these extracts are currently under investigation.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was partially supported by the NSF Research Initiation Award grant 1600638
Faculty Advisor: None Listed,