Open AccessAntibiotic activity of soil myxobacteria and its ecological implications
Author(s) -
Foster Howard A.,
Yasouri Fazel N.,
Daoud Nabeel N.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1992.tb05758.x
Subject(s) - myxobacteria , micrococcus luteus , biology , antimicrobial , antibiotics , microbiology and biotechnology , botrytis cinerea , agar , bacteria , ecology , botany , staphylococcus aureus , genetics
One hundred and sixty‐four strains of myxobacteria were isolated from soil collected in the British Isles and tested for their antimicrobial activity. The organisms were indentified as belonging to the genera Corallococcus, Cystobacter and Myxococcus with smaller numbers of Archangium, Sorangium and Stigmatella . The majority of the isolates showed antimicrobial activity when overlaid with agar inoculated with test organisms and 77% inhibited Micrococcus luteus and 23% Botrytis cinerea . The activity was shown to be due to antibiotics excreted into the medium and soluble in chloroform. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of myxobacteria in soil ecology.