Antibiotic producing microorganisms from River Wiwi, Lake Bosomtwe and the Gulf of Guinea at Doakor Sea Beach, Ghana.
BACKGROUND
Microorganisms have provided a wealth of metabolites with interesting activities such as antimicrobial, antiviral and anticancer. In this study, a total of 119 aquatic microbial isolates from 30 samples (taken from water bodies in Ghana) were screened by the agar-well diffusion method for ability to produce antibacterial-metabolites.


RESULTS
Antibacterial activity was exhibited by 27 of the isolates (14 bacteria, 9 actinomycetes and 4 fungi) against at least one of the indicator microorganisms: Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Bacillus thuringiensis (ATCC 13838), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Proteus vulgaris (NCTC 4635) and Bacillus Subtilis (NCTC 10073). A sea isolate MAI2 (identified as a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa) exhibited the highest antibacterial activity (lowest zone of inhibition = 22 mm). The metabolites of MAI2 extracted with chloroform were stable to heat and gave minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging between 250 and 2000 μg/ml. Bioautography of the extract revealed seven active components.


CONCLUSIONS
This study has therefore uncovered the potential of water bodies in the West African sub-region as reservoirs of potent bioactive metabolite producing microorganisms.
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Adelaide A
AA
Tawiah
Stephen Y
SY
Gbedema
Francis
F
Adu
Vivian E
VE
Boamah
Kofi
K
Annan
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents