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Chavarría-Pizarro L, Núñez-Montero K, Gutiérrez-Araya M, Watson-Guido W, Rivera-Méndez W, Pizarro-Cerdá J. Novel strains of Actinobacteria associated with neotropical social wasps (Vespidae; Polistinae, Epiponini) with antimicrobial potential for natural product discovery. FEMS MICROBES 2024; 5:xtae005. [PMID: 38476864 PMCID: PMC10929769 DOI: 10.1093/femsmc/xtae005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance has been considered a public health threat. The World Health Organization has warned about the urgency of detecting new antibiotics from novel sources. Social insects could be crucial in the search for new antibiotic metabolites, as some of them survive in places that favor parasite development. Recent studies have shown the potential of social insects to produce antimicrobial metabolites (e.g. ants, bees, and termites). However, most groups of social wasps remain unstudied. Here, we explored whether Actinobacteria are associated with workers in the Neotropical Social Wasps (Epiponini) of Costa Rica and evaluated their putative inhibitory activity against other bacteria. Most isolated strains (67%) have antagonistic effects, mainly against Bacillus thuringensis and Escherichia coli ATCC 25992. Based on genome analysis, some inhibitory Actinobacteria showed biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) related to the production of antimicrobial molecules such as Selvamycin, Piericidin A1, and Nystatin. The Actinobacteria could be associated with social wasps to produce antimicrobial compounds. For these reasons, we speculate that Actinobacteria associated with social wasps could be a novel source of antimicrobial compounds, mainly against Gram-negative bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Chavarría-Pizarro
- Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Biología-Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología, Calle 15, Avenida 14, 159-7050 Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - Kattia Núñez-Montero
- Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Biología-Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología, Calle 15, Avenida 14, 159-7050 Cartago, Costa Rica
- Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Avenida Alemania 1090, 4810101 Temuco, Chile
| | - Mariela Gutiérrez-Araya
- Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Biología-Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología, Calle 15, Avenida 14, 159-7050 Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - William Watson-Guido
- Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Biología-Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología, Calle 15, Avenida 14, 159-7050 Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - William Rivera-Méndez
- Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Biología-Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología, Calle 15, Avenida 14, 159-7050 Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - Javier Pizarro-Cerdá
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, Yersinia Research Unit - Institut Pasteur 28, rue du Docteur Roux - 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France
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