Streptomyces Isolates from the Soil of an Ancient Irish Cure Site, Capable of Inhibiting Multi-Resistant Bacteria and Yeasts

Gerry Quinn,Martin Swain,Paul Facey,Simms Adu,Alyaa Abdelhameed,Laura Baker,Helena Castro,Ibrahim Banat,Nada Alharbi,Paul Dyson,Aiya Banat,Luciana Terra,Diego Cobice

doi:10.3390/app11114923

Abstract

Traditional Irish medicines are often intertwined with ritual and spirituality, making it difficult to substantiate the validity of their claims. In this manuscript, we use molecular and microscopic techniques to investigate some microorganisms that might be responsible for the reputed healing properties of an ancient Irish soil cure known as the Blessed clay from a site in Boho in the West Fermanagh Scarplands. We previously reported the isolation of an antibiotic producing bacteria from this soil. In this report, we characterize the antibiotic activity of a further six isolates of Streptomyces from this source. Two of these isolates inhibit the growth of multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two inhibit the growth of the yeast Starmerella bombicola, and two have as yet undetermined activity. Genetic analysis of these Streptomyces reveals the potential to synthesize varieties of antibiotics similar to cypemycin, griseochelin, macrolactams, and candicidin. From these observations, we suggest that part of the medicinal reputation of the Blessed clay may lie in the diversity of antimicrobial producing Streptomyces isolated from this soil. These findings highlight the potential for antibiotic discovery in this area.

Highlights

The record of traditional Irish folk medicine, essentially passed on by word of mouth, is fading from the living landscape
We isolated six Streptomyces from the ‘Blessed clay’ of Fr McGirr, which we labelled as Streptomyces spp
We identified a group of Streptomyces from the Blessed clay in the Boho region of West

Summary

Introduction

The record of traditional Irish folk medicine, essentially passed on by word of mouth, is fading from the living landscape. Geoffrey discovered that traditional medicines yielded far more successful lead compounds in the development of anticancer drugs than random plant screenings [9]. These ideas were quickly adopted by other researchers. Pioneering work by the group of Julian Davies in British Columbia discovered that the sacred clay, used for millennia by the Heiltsuk peoples of Kisameet Bay, was able to combat many multi-resistant hospital pathogens [3] In another part of the globe, researchers in Jordan attributed the therapeutic activity of ‘Red clay’ to a high proportion of antibiotic producing bacteria found in the soil [10].

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