The antibacterial potency of the extracts of the seed of Garcinia kola (bitter kola) was investigated in this study against a panel of referenced, environmental and clinical bacterial strains. The killing rates of the active extract as well as their potential for combination antibacterial therapy with standard antibiotics were also elucidated using standard procedures. The aqueous and acetone extracts of the seed were screened for activity against 27 bacterial isolates. The aqueous extract exhibited activity mainly against Gram positive organisms with Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 5 mgml-1 – 20 mgml-1, while the acetone extract showed activity against both Gram negative and Gram positive organisms with MIC values ranging from 10 mgml-1 - 0.156 mgml-1. The acetone extract also showed rapid bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 with a 3.097 Log10 reduction in counts within 4 hours at 0.3125 mgml-1 and a 1.582 Log10 reduction against Proteus vulgaris CSIR 0030 at 5 mgml-1 after 1 hour. In addition, the aqueous, methanol and acetone extracts of the seeds also exhibited activity against four clinical strains of Staphylococcus isolated from wound sepsis specimens. The MIC values for the aqueous extract were 10 mgml-1 for all the isolates while the acetone and methanol extracts had lower values ranging from 0.3125 - 0.625 mgml-1. The acetone extract was strongly bactericidal against Staphylococcus aureus OKOH3 resulting in a 2.70 Log10 reduction in counts at 1.25 mgml-1 within 4 hours of exposure and a complete elimination of the organism after 8 hours. The bactericidal vi activity of the same extract against Staphylococcus aureus OKOH1 was weak, achieving only a 2.92 Log10 reduction in counts at 1.25 mgml-1 (4× MIC) in 24 hours. In the test for interactions between the acetone extract of the seeds and antibiotics, synergistic interactions were observed largely against Gram positive organisms using the FIC indices, (indices of 0.52 - 0.875) with combinations against Gram negatives yielding largely antagonistic interactions (indices of 2.0 to 5.0). Synergy (≥ 1000 times or ≥ 3 Log10 potentiation of the bactericidal activity) against both Gram negative and Gram positive organisms was detected by time kill assays mainly involving the antibiotics tetracycline, chloramphenicol, amoxycillin and penicillin G. Combinations involving erythromycin and ciprofloxacin consistently gave antagonistic or indifferent interactions. We conclude that the acetone extract of Garcinia kola seeds possess strong bactericidal activities against both Gram positive and Gram negative organisms and can be therapeutically useful in the treatment of bacterial infections including the problematic staphylococcal wound infections. In addition, the acetone extract can be a potential source of broad spectrum resistance modifying compounds that can potentially improve the performance of antibiotics in the treatment of drug resistant infections.

In late September of 2016, at a United Nations General Assembly, the UN concluded that the biggest threat to human health around the global today is the spread of antibiotic resistant microorganisms, also known as superbugs. The global farmed animal industry is largely responsible for this, as it misuses the antibiotics that were originally designed to save humans from infection by instead using them in vast quantities in animal feed and water. How should the global community respond to this threat?

Please read the abstracts of chapters 1-3 on pages 1-4 of this document. / Dissertation (MSc Agric (Animal Nutrition))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

This diploma thesis deals with optimization of analysis process and measuring antibiotics induced changes in E. coli cells via Raman spectroscopy, LTRS and microfluidic systems. Optical micromanipulation by a laser beam allows noncontact and noninvasive manipulation of objects on scale 10^-5–10^-8 m, for example bacterial cells. Microfluidic device consists of microchannels and microchambers in transparent polymer and it is used for isolation, observation and cultivation of bacterial cells. Combination of these methods gives an effective tool for observation, manipulation and analysis of microorganisms. E. coli is a microorganism potentially pathogenic for humans and faster detection of its sensitivity to antibiotic treatment would make the whole process of diagnostics and treatment easier. We performed laser tweezer-Raman spectroscopy and conventional Raman spectroscopy of bacterial cells and cells under antibiotic stress and collected Raman spectra and characteristic areas were compared with literature to establish the reliability and usefulness of this method.

Recent studies regarding research on oral microorganisms and the oral diseases are presented. The normal flora of the mouth and the oral environment are first described. Dental plaque and dental caries are primary causes of oral disease. Streptococcus mutans is the major contributor in the initiation and progression of dental caries. Lactobacillus, Actinomyces, and Veillonella are other genera of bacteria linked to dental caries. Periodontitis and gingivitis are periodontal diseases that are caused by oral microorganisms. New research has indicated that various antimicrobial agents and techniques to eliminate or lessen the severity of periodontal diseases. Premature delivery of low birth weight babies in pregnant women has been strongly linked to periodontal disease. Present and future microbiological tests are available to easily determine the causative organisms for most oral diseases that help in diagnosis and treatment of a particular disease.

Microbes exist in unfathomably diverse, dynamic and intricately structured ecosystems. However, we lack the tools to fully capture the complexity of these microbiomes, which in turn limits our ability to understand their ecology and function. Here, I address these shortcomings by developing new high-throughput measurement tools to characterize microbiomes across functionally distinct axes. First, from a synthetic biology perspective, I leverage the bacterial CRISPR-Cas immune system to enable a new class of population-wide passive recording devices in cells for capture temporally varying signals and horizontally transferred DNA sequences. Second, in the microbiome arena, I develop a new suite of tools (experimental and theoretical) to capture and analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of microbiomes at macroscopic and microscopic length scales. Taken together, these measurements provide deep insights into the ecology of complex microbiomes, and constitute a suite of powerful new tools to study microbes in their native context.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(農学) / 甲第17792号 / 農博第2013号 / 新制||農||1016(附属図書館) / 学位論文||H25||N4783(農学部図書室) / 30599 / 京都大学大学院農学研究科応用生命科学専攻 / (主査)教授 阪井 康能, 教授 小川 順, 教授 梅澤 俊明 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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