Bioprospecting the Antibiofilm and Antimicrobial Activity of Soil and Insect Gut Bacteria

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing concern in public health and current research shows an important role for bacterial biofilms in recurrent or chronic infections. New strategies, therefore, are necessary to overcome antimicrobial resistance, through the development of new therapies that could alter or inhibit biofilm formation. In this sense, antibiofilm natural products are very promising. In this work, a bioprospection of antimicrobial and antibiofilm extracts from Uruguayan soil bacteria and insect gut bacteria was carried out. Extracts from extracellular broths were tested for their ability to inhibit planktonic cell growth and biofilm formation. Genomic analysis of Bacillus cereus ILBB55 was carried out. All extracts were able to inhibit the growth of, at least, one microorganism and several extracts showed MICs lower than 500 µg mL(−1) against microorganisms of clinical relevance (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter cloacae). Among the extracts evaluated for biofilm inhibition only ILBB55, from B. cereus, was able to inhibit, S. aureus (99%) and P. aeruginosa (62%) biofilms. Genomic analysis of this strain showed gene clusters similar to other clusters that code for known antimicrobial compounds. Our study revealed that extracts from soil bacteria and insect gut bacteria, especially from B. cereus ILBB55, could be potential candidates for drug discovery to treat infectious diseases and inhibit S. aureus and P. aeruginosa biofilms.