Screening for antimicrobial activities from marine bacteria associated with Kemaman mangrave soils, Terengganu

Abstract

The marine bacteria were isolated from Kemaman Mangrove soils in searching for the antimicrobial properties. Out of 34 marine bacteria isolated from two mangrove samples namely KMM I and KMM2 respectively, only five isolates or fifteen percent of all isolate were shown to have positive antimicrobial activity. The isolates M4, M 16, M 17, N6 and N8 showed moderate positive antimicrobial activities against six target bacteria and one yeast target using modified agar diffusion method. Target bacteria that were used for screening were obtained from Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital. Isolates M4 showed the highest antimicrobial activity on Klebsiella pneumonia target bacteria with 22.5 mm inhibition zone susceptibility. All positive isolates were characterized by biochemical tests and identified using API kits except for isolate M4 which characterized by biochemical tests. Furthermore, isolates N6 and M 17 were identified as Aeromonas hydrophilalcaviae at 99.7 % confidence level and possible to be Vibrio fluvialis. Isolate N8 was identified as Serratia spat 99.5% confident level. The isolate M 16 was identified as Micrococcus spp at 99.9% confident level. From this study, there is potential on antimicrobial activity showed from marine bacteria isolated from mangrove soil in order to develop new antimicrobial compound. Results suggest that marine bacterium isolates particularly gram positive bacteria, believe to produce antimicrobial compound and are potentially useful for novel bioactive compound discovery.