Isolation and screening of brittlestar-associated bacteria for antibacterial activity

Many microbes associated with marine organisms have antimicrobial activity. We report the isolation of bacteria associated with Amphipholis gracillima that have broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against a number of common bacterial strains. Fifty-eight isolates of bacilli obtained from A. gracillima arm homogenates, from excised wound tissue, or from swabs of arm stumps exhibited 20–100% inhibition of one or more of 16 test bacteria at 35% salinity. Forty-one of the isolates were capable of 20–100% inhibition of one or more of 19 subject bacteria at 10% salinity at 37°C. Three isolates, BE37, BE52, and BE53, exhibited the greatest range of antibacterial activity at both 10% and 35% salinity. Our results suggest that some of the bacteria associated with A. gracillima may provide the animal with chemical defenses against adverse bacterial infection. The water-soluble inhibitory chemicals produced by the bacteria could potentially function as antimicrobial compounds against human pathogenic bacteria. Received: 30 July 2001 / Accepted: 15 October 2001