Overview of Antimicrobial Compounds Produced from Bacteria

Abstract

Every year more than 10 million lives are lost due to antimicrobial-resistant infections. Therefore, the development of antimicrobial agents has become a necessity. Natural products are being used as therapeutic agents. Antimicrobial beings are one of the most compelling molecules. Microorganisms produce bioactive compounds with antimicrobial and cytotoxic bioactivity. Fungi and bacteria are mostly used as novel antimicrobial agents. In the years 1940 & 1950 marine bacteria were shown to produce antimicrobial compounds. The first marine antibacterials were identified in the year 1960, and in the year 1970 their antibiotic properties has been reported. The majority of identified compounds were isolated from Actinobacteria & Bacilli. The interesting fact is that the molecules that were active against gram-negative were isolated from Bacilli. It is estimated at least 4-5% of the genome of any strain of the B. subtilus group is devoted to antimicrobial compounds (AMCs) production.