AbstractAntibiotic resistance is becoming increasingly challenging because it can lead to harmful developmentssuch as the superbug. One of the main causes for this antibiotic resistance is unnecessarily prescribingantibiotic drugs. Antibiotics are extremely important and widely used; most come from microbes(bacterium). Soil has a dense supply of these microorganisms that can produce antibiotics. An example ofthis is the fungus Penicillium that is commonly found in soil. Throughout this lab our goal was to try toisolate an antibiotic-producing bacteria from soil. Our methods for doing this started with a soil samplethat was collected from an urban area in Millcreek, Utah on January 16th 2020 at 7:13am. Before beingable to plate the sample of soil on a petri dish it was necessary to firstly dilute the soil sample in order toremove any substances that could possibly change the analysis. This was done by thoroughly mixing avial of the sample with water using a vortex. This was done five times to ensure complete dilution.Afterwards, the diluted soil was spread across an LB petri dish base to allow bacterial growth.Subsequently, fifty samples of bacteria were plated onto the Master Plates to observe any growth moreclearly. The bacteria from the Master Plates were then transferred onto pathogen covered plates. This wasdone to observe any bacterial colonies that exhibited zones of inhibition when grown in the presence of anESKAPE relative. Our screen results showed that all of the following ESKAPE pathogens had twoproducers: Bacillus Subtilis (+), Erwinia Carotovora (-), Enterobacter Aerogenes (-) and AttenuatedSalmonella Typhimurium (-). There were no other inhibition producers for the rest of the ESKAPEpathogens. Due to unexpected circumstances, we were unable to know if the bacterial strains could beused as true antibiotics. However, if further testing were to be done, we can potentially develop newantibiotics for use against current antibiotic resistant bacteria. This would increase infection recovery andreduce treatment costs.IntroductionAntibiotic-resistant pathogens are deadly and costly. Infections that used to be treated easily are nowkilling patients. Without effective means of killing pathogenic bacteria, they can multiply within thehuman body, halting normal cellular function, killing cells, or even secreting toxins into the host (4).Modern medicine is placed on hold as seemingly eradicated risks of infection cause death after successfulsurgeries or transplants. A large percentage of drug-resistant bacteria are found and transferred inhospitals, making routine medical practices risky. Infections now require longer hospital care and moreexpensive medicines. Doctors now have to try multiple antibiotics to treat patients and may have to usemedicines that are toxic to humans in order to kill the invasive pathogens (1).
