Extremophilic actinomycetes isolated from soil in Kazakhstan: Classification and antimicrobial activities

Abstract

Extremophilic actinomycetes species are capable of surviving in extreme environment and producing antibiotics. In this study, we hypothesize that extremophiles produce antimicrobial compounds that are potentially novel agent(s) effective against drug resistant pathogens. The goal of this study is to test inhibitory activity of the extracts derived from extremophilic actinomycetes species against the most prevalent drug-resistant bacteria in Kazakhstani hospitals, and preliminarily analyze chemical composition of the active extracts. Actinomycetes species isolated from the soil of Kazakhstan were cultured in modified media mimicking extreme environment the species were isolated from. Antimicrobial compound(s) extracted with organic solvent were tested against conditionally pathogenic and multi-drug resistant pathogens Acinetobacter baumanni and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Our study generated promising results regarding the potential discovery of novel components effective against drug resistant pathogens. Future studies will focus on further chemical analysis to identify the active component within these extremophilic extracts.