Novel antimicrobials are needed now more than ever. The number of antibiotic-resistant pathogen infections rises, while the number of novel antibiotics in the clinics declines. Soil has proved to be a rich source of very diverse antibiotic-producing microorganisms. Puerto Rican soil offers a nutrient rich environment that already displayed vast microbial diversity. The only study on antibiotic production potential of Puerto Rico’s soil suggests that there is a vast repertoire of cultivable microorganisms capable of producing novel antibiotics against opportunistic pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We propose to investigate the antibiotic production potential of both cultivable and uncultivable microbial populations in soil samples from Cabo Rojo Salt Lands, Puerto Rico. We intend to find cultivable antibiotic-producing microorganisms using selective isolation techniques, while screening for uncultivable populations by amplifying poliketide synthases and non-ribosomal peptides genes via polymerase chain reaction.
