The Antimicrobial Properties of Metabolites Obtained from Fungal Endophytes Present in a Range of Salt Marsh Plants in Salem, Massachusetts

Presenter: Arshnoor Kaur

Faculty Sponsor: Christine MacTaylor

School: Salem State University

Research Area: Medical Sciences

Session: Poster Session 3, 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM, Auditorium, A53

ABSTRACT

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the major challenges to global development and public health.  According to the World Health Organization bacterial resistance is thought to have been responsible for 1.27 million death and caused around 4.5 million fatalities worldwide in 2019. It is highly important to develop antibiotics and therapies to tackle issues related to microbial resistance. The search for novel antibiotics includes studying plants. In this case, endophytes are studied to search for these properties. Since salt marsh plants thrive in saline and harsh environments this work has focused on plants found in the local salt marsh since they may have endophytes that help them survive in this harsh environment.  In this study, metabolites were extracted from fungal endophytes grown from ten distinct plants in the local salt marsh in order to investigate the antibacterial properties. Staphylococcus epidermis and Escherichia coli bacterial strains were tested against the extracted metabolites that were isolated from the endophytes found in the plants. The zones of inhibition were measured to compare the strength of the various endophytic metabolites. All of the plants showed some inhibition, but the stronger metabolites indicate where to search for novel antibiotics. 

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