An Actinobacterial Isolate, Streptomyces sp. YX44, Produces Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics That Strongly Inhibit Staphylococcus aureus

The need for new antibiotics is increasing due to their overuse, and antibiotic resistance has become one of the major threats worldwide to public health, food safety, and clinical treatment. In this study, we describe an actinobacterial isolate, YX44, which belongs to the genus Streptomyces. This Streptomyces was isolated from a drinking pipe located in Osaka, Japan, and has the ability to inhibit Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, and various fungi. YX44 fermentation broth shows strong activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as also inhibiting clinical isolates of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The YX44 antibacterial substances in the broth are relatively heat-stable, show high stability from the pH range 1 to 11, and have good solubility in both organic and non-organic solvents. Size-exclusion chromatography revealed that the YX44 antibacterial compounds are less than 1000 Da in size. LC-MS was able to identify three possible candidate molecules with molecular weights of 308, 365, 460, and 653 g/mol; none of these sizes correspond to any well-known antibiotics. Our results show that Streptomyces sp. YX44 seems to produce a number of novel antibiotics with high pH stability and good solubility that have significant activity against S. aureus, including multidrug-resistant strains.