Meeting Abstract
P2.37 Jan. 5 Antibiotic Producing Bacteria (Steptomyces) in the Most Polluted Urban Area in Brooklyn: The Gowanus Creek Canal GARCIA, S*; KINLOCK, B; BOLNET, C; Medgar Evers College; Medgar Evers College; Medgar Evers College kadratee18@yahoo.com
Streptomyces is a renowned bacterial genus that produces antibiotics as secondary metabolites. Because a large number of pathogenic bacteria have become resistant to many of the antibiotics now in frequent use, our group is interested in isolating new strains of Streptomyces, in different Brooklyn locations. One of the selected locations is the Gowanus Creek Canal (GCC). In the nineteen century the GCC was a significant waterway for New York City�s commerce. Several industries lined its banks including heavy chemicals, coal and gas manufacturing plants, oil refineries as well as paint plants. By the turn of the century the government recognized the activities of the canal had caused it to be extremely polluted and harmful to its environment. We were interested in knowing if in such a polluted environment, we will be able to isolate Streptomyces secreting new antibiotics. Soils were dried, diluted and plated onto agar media selective for Streptomyces and incubated at 28 degrees Celsius for 7 days. We selected 10 colonies that had Streptomyces characteristics. Gram staining revealed that 8 colonies were Gram positive, filamentous rod shaped and spore forming bacteria which confirmed the presence of Streptomyces. Antibacterial assays were performed and none of the colonies exhibited antibiosis against Gram negative or Gram positive bacteria. DNA was extracted from each sample and a successful PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene was then performed. We are currently sequencing the PCR products that will be used to characterize the isolates against known Streptomyces/Actinomyces database. In conclusion 8 morphologically different types of Streptomyces colonies were found in the contaminated soils of the GCC, none of them showed antibacterial properties. We are planning to test their antifungal properties in the near future.
