Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial properties

Bacteria and archaea thrive in terrestrial subsurface environments because of their unique physiology. Over time, these unique microorganisms may have adapted to possess specialized metabolic pathways that sustain their continued existence in caves, one of harshest environments on earth. The present...

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Main Authors: Soumya Ghosh, Gabrielle Kam, Monique Nijjer, Christian Stenner, Naowarat Cheeptham
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of South Florida Libraries 2020-01-01
Series:International Journal of Speleology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol49/iss1/6/
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spelling doaj-134288dfa3534900a1df88ef640fceb62021-05-02T17:28:39ZengUniversity of South Florida LibrariesInternational Journal of Speleology0392-66721827-806X2020-01-01491435310.5038/1827-806X.49.1.2291Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial propertiesSoumya Ghosh0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4945-3516Gabrielle Kam1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6975-4730Monique Nijjer2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4175-5122Christian Stenner3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2348-8953Naowarat Cheeptham4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1913-4151Thompson Rivers University and University of the Free StateThompson Rivers UniversityThe University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus)Alberta Speleological Society, CalgaryThompson Rivers UniversityBacteria and archaea thrive in terrestrial subsurface environments because of their unique physiology. Over time, these unique microorganisms may have adapted to possess specialized metabolic pathways that sustain their continued existence in caves, one of harshest environments on earth. The present study elucidates cultivation based microbial diversity of the cave sediments and wall scrapings collected from seven different locations in Raspberry Rising Cave located in the Columbia Mountain Range, British Columbia, Canada. A total of 103 cultivable bacteria from the cave were isolated on various agar media including R2A, Hickey-Tresner, and DifcoTM Actinomycetes Isolation agar media. Taxonomical phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of the bacterial isolates identified three major phyla: Proteobacteria (Class: Gammaproteobacteria) (51.45%), Actinobacteria (43.68%) and Bacteroidetes (3.88%). Among them, the major genus was Pseudomonas (48.54%) followed by Rhodococcus (39.80%) and Flavobacterium (3.88%). The genus Janthinobacterium and Arthrobacter contributed about 2.91% each, of the total population. Noteworthy, 0.99% were recognized as endophytic Proteobacteria. Furthermore, these bacterial isolates were evaluated for their potential antimicrobial activities against the multidrug resistant bacterial strains. Two bacterial isolates (RRC23, RRC75) showed antimicrobial activities against multi-drug resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli #15-318 while RRC48 exhibited against methicillin resistant (MRSA) Staphylococcus aureus. The isolates RRC36 and RRC38 were identified to show antimicrobial activities against non-pathogenic isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scientific study conducted and provides the insight in occurrence and distribution of the cultivated bacterial diversity from the Raspberry Rising Cave. Moreover, the antimicrobial properties exhibited by some of the bacterial isolates suggested that this cave system could be a resource for potential antibiotics, drugs or novel biologics of clinical relevance.https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol49/iss1/6/cave microbial diversitymulti-drug resistant organismscultivation-basedantimicrobial activitiesraspberry rising cavemarble cave
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Soumya Ghosh
Gabrielle Kam
Monique Nijjer
Christian Stenner
Naowarat Cheeptham
spellingShingle Soumya Ghosh
Gabrielle Kam
Monique Nijjer
Christian Stenner
Naowarat Cheeptham
Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial properties
International Journal of Speleology
cave microbial diversity
multi-drug resistant organisms
cultivation-based
antimicrobial activities
raspberry rising cave
marble cave
author_facet Soumya Ghosh
Gabrielle Kam
Monique Nijjer
Christian Stenner
Naowarat Cheeptham
author_sort Soumya Ghosh
title Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial properties
title_short Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial properties
title_full Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial properties
title_fullStr Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial properties
title_full_unstemmed Culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in Canada’s Raspberry Rising Cave revealed antimicrobial properties
title_sort culture dependent analysis of bacterial diversity in canada’s raspberry rising cave revealed antimicrobial properties
publisher University of South Florida Libraries
series International Journal of Speleology
issn 0392-6672
1827-806X
publishDate 2020-01-01
description Bacteria and archaea thrive in terrestrial subsurface environments because of their unique physiology. Over time, these unique microorganisms may have adapted to possess specialized metabolic pathways that sustain their continued existence in caves, one of harshest environments on earth. The present study elucidates cultivation based microbial diversity of the cave sediments and wall scrapings collected from seven different locations in Raspberry Rising Cave located in the Columbia Mountain Range, British Columbia, Canada. A total of 103 cultivable bacteria from the cave were isolated on various agar media including R2A, Hickey-Tresner, and DifcoTM Actinomycetes Isolation agar media. Taxonomical phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of the bacterial isolates identified three major phyla: Proteobacteria (Class: Gammaproteobacteria) (51.45%), Actinobacteria (43.68%) and Bacteroidetes (3.88%). Among them, the major genus was Pseudomonas (48.54%) followed by Rhodococcus (39.80%) and Flavobacterium (3.88%). The genus Janthinobacterium and Arthrobacter contributed about 2.91% each, of the total population. Noteworthy, 0.99% were recognized as endophytic Proteobacteria. Furthermore, these bacterial isolates were evaluated for their potential antimicrobial activities against the multidrug resistant bacterial strains. Two bacterial isolates (RRC23, RRC75) showed antimicrobial activities against multi-drug resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli #15-318 while RRC48 exhibited against methicillin resistant (MRSA) Staphylococcus aureus. The isolates RRC36 and RRC38 were identified to show antimicrobial activities against non-pathogenic isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scientific study conducted and provides the insight in occurrence and distribution of the cultivated bacterial diversity from the Raspberry Rising Cave. Moreover, the antimicrobial properties exhibited by some of the bacterial isolates suggested that this cave system could be a resource for potential antibiotics, drugs or novel biologics of clinical relevance.
topic cave microbial diversity
multi-drug resistant organisms
cultivation-based
antimicrobial activities
raspberry rising cave
marble cave
url https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol49/iss1/6/
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