Isolation of antibiotic Producing Microorganisms from some water bodies within Eastern and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana

BackgroundMost antimicrobial agents used today are isolated and extracted from microbial source. The emergence of antimicrobial resistance and need for better, broad spectrum antimicrobial agent is always in high demand. In this study, a total of 112 aquatic microbial isolates from 14 sample sites of water bodies in Ghana were screened by agar-well diffusion method for the ability of antimicrobial metabolites.\n\nResultsOut of these antibacterial activities, 10 inhibited the growth of at least one test microorganism with zones of growth inhibitions ranged between 2.5{+/-}0.5 - 35.5{+/-}0.5 mm against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Streptococcus pyogenes (clinical isolates), Escherichia coli (NCTC9002), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (clinical isolate), Klebsiella pneumoniae (Clinical isolate), Bacillus subtilis (NCTC10073) and Salmonella typhi (NCTC 6017). The extracts of the isolates showed minimum inhibitory concentrations of which extract NKSEW3 against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 25.00, 12.50 and 25.00 mg/mL respectively while that of NKLS6 were 12.50, 6.25 and 25.00 mg/mL. The isolates NKSEW3 and NKLS6 were identified to be Pseudomonas species using chromagar and biochemical tests. The GC-MS result for NKLS62 (a fraction obtained from NKLS6) revealed five compounds including; Tridecanal, 17-octadecanal, ethanol, 2-(9-octadecenyloxy)-, (Z), 2-pentadecanone, 6, 10, 14-trimethyl diisooctyl phthalate and 17-octadecanal (C18H34O) as good pharmacological agents.\n\nConclusionMicroorganisms isolated from water bodies in Ghana have the potential of producing antimicrobial agents.\n\nAuthor SummaryIn this study we use the agar well-diffusion to screen the isolates of water and soil samples collected within Greater Accra and Eastern Regions in Ghana against the test organisms.