Antimicrobial Drug Discovery and Isolation of Actinobacteria from Scottish Lichens

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing problem, with multi-drug resistant bacterial and fungal infections becoming increasingly common and many pathogens becoming resistant to our drugs of last resort. Discovering new antibiotics to tackle these infections is therefore an important priority, and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (good health and well-being). Many antibiotics come from actinobacteria, Gram-positive bacteria often found in soil, water, or mutualistic associations with plants and animals. However, after many decades of drug discovery research focussed on isolating these bacteria from soil, it is becoming necessary that we turn our attention to new ecological niches in order to discover new drugs. One such new ecological niche is lichens, the composite organisms formed by a mutualistic association between fungi and algae or cyanobacteria. Recently, it has been discovered that many lichens harbour endophytic bacteria, including actinobacteria that produce novel chemical compounds that could potentially be exploited as new antibiotics. However, this work has focussed on lichens from e.g. New Zealand, Thailand, and British Columbia; no reports have yet explored the lichens found in Scotland, in spite of the fact that Scotland is home to over 1500 species of lichens and represents an important source of lichen biodiversity. This project aimed to isolate actinobacteria from Scottish lichens and characterise their ability to produce antimicrobial compounds.

Strathclyde funded (RI@S) summer studentship