Antibiotics from surface associated marine bacteria

Interactions between epibiotic marine bacteria and their host organisms are known to play a significant role in many marine ecosystems but historically this association has received little attention. In this study, algal samples were collected subtidally by shallow water scuba techniques, and 51 bacterial epiphytes were isolated using novel culturing techniques New approaches to developing culture media were devised based upon using seaweed extracts from the marine algae, Fucus vesiculosus Isolated strains were evaluated for their potential to produce antimicrobial compounds specifically towards drug resistant pathogenic bacteria, especially methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Preliminary results show that thirteen isolates produce inhibitory compounds towards methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus of which one isolate (MH22) from Fucus vesiculosus showed good inhibition towards MRSA. The use of algal extract in the culturing of marine bacteria has proven successful as many of these bacteria are unable to grow on traditional marine media (Difco 2216E Marine Agar)