Isolation and identification of bacteria potentially producing antibacterial compounds from tree bark

Abstract

A wide range of antibacterial compounds have been isolated from many sources which include soils, bacteria and fungi. The antibacterial compounds produce from bacteria that survive in the tree bark, however are less identified. Human nowadays are facing a problem on the emergence of microbial drug resistant. This problem needs a serious searching of more new antibacterial compounds in order to overcome the pathogenic agents due to the lack number of antibacterial compounds. The aims of this study are to isolate and identify bacteria from tree bark and to determine whether the bacteria are producing antibacterial compounds. The study area was done around the University Malaysia Terengganu at three locations, namely Coastal Area, Kampung Gong Badak and Faculty of Science and Technology. Tree barks were collected from three species of tree; Casuarina equisetifolia, Ficus americana and Lawsonia inermis at the respective area. All bacterial samples isolated from the tree species were characterized and identified using Gram staining, and several biochemical tests. The bacterial isolates were then tested for antibiotic activity to determine those producing antibacterial compounds. Test strains used were Klebsiella sp., Salmonella sp., Bacillus sp., Streptococcus sp., Staphylococcus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. From the test result, all bacterial isolates collected from tree bark were not producing any inhibition zone. This could be due to the appearance of external and internal factors of the tree bark that affect the growth of the bacteria which thus, decreased the ability of certain bacteria to survive or to produce antibacterial substance. Since no potentially bacteria are found, more research has to be performed widely due to the difficulties of getting the desired bacteria from tree bark.