Identification of Antimicrobial Compounds in Two sp. Strains Isolated From Beehives.

The World Health Organization warns that the alarming increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria will lead to 2.7 million deaths annually due to the lack of effective antibiotic therapies. Clearly, there is an urgent need for short-term alternatives that help to alleviate these alarming figures. In this respect, the scientific community is exploring neglected ecological niches from which the prototypical antibiotic-producing bacteria Streptomycetes are expected to be present. Recent studies have reported that honeybees and their products carry species that possess strong antibacterial activity. In this study, we have investigated the antibiotic profile of two Streptomycetes strains that were isolated from beehives. One of the isolates is the strain AN1, which derives from pollen, and shows potent antimicrobial activity against . The other isolate is the strain AD2, which was isolated from honey, and displays a broad range of antimicrobial activity against different Gram-positive bacteria, including pathogens such as and . Cultures of AD2 have the capacity to produce the antibacterial compounds undecylprodigiosin and manumycin, while those of AN1 accumulate antifungal compounds such as candicidins and antimycins. Furthermore, genome and dereplication analyses suggest that the number of putative bioactive metabolites produced by AD2 and AN1 is considerably high, including compounds with anti-microbial and anti-cancer properties. Our results postulate that beehives are a promising source for the discovery of novel bioactive compounds that might be of interest to the agri-food sector and healthcare pharmaceuticals.