At the frontline of microbe research
RESEARCHERS at Monash Malaysia are working to find new microbes in previously unstudied habitats. The Novel Bacteria and Drug Discovery Research (NBDD) Group and Biofunctional Molecule Exploratory Research (BMEX) Group are identifying new microbes from Malaysian mangrove swamps that may provide us with new antibiotics and anticancer compounds.
The Monash researchers are focusing on one family of bacteria – the Actinomycetes. Actinomycetes became famous in the 1940s when Prof Selman Abraham Waksman first used it to isolate the potent antibiotic streptomycin. Since then, scientists have identified over 10,000 bioactive compounds that are made by Streptomycetes species. Bioactive compounds are those that may be able to fight disease and infection.
More than 860 new species and subspecies of Streptomyces have been discovered in almost every environment on earth, from the deep seabed to hot springs to mangrove swamps.
With 99% of microbes on earth still unidentified, the researchers in the NBDD Group and BMEX Group believe that there are other species in the Actinomycetes family waiting to be discovered that might be able to produce bioactive compounds.
Malaysian mangrove microbes help fight cancer
The researchers in the NBDD Group are focusing on finding new Actinobacteria species, including Streptomyces, that live in mangrove swamps around Malaysia. The researchers study the new species from various angles – from observing their physical appearance to deciphering their genetic code.
Researchers from the BMEX Group then
focus on detecting and evaluating compounds made by microbes that might be bioactive. Together, the two groups have discovered 15 new species in the Actinobacteria family and published more than 20 research articles.
Some of the new species the Monash researchers have discovered are associated with bioactive compounds that may be used to make new antibiotics. A recently discovered microbe named Streptomyces pluripotens (MUSC 135T) produces bioactive compounds that can kill several harmful
pathogens. The compounds it produces are even able to kill Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Infections caused by MRSA are very difficult to treat and MRSA can wreak havoc in clinical settings and hospitals. Streptomyces pluripotens may provide a treatment in future.
Another microbe discovered by Monash researchers, strain MUSC 136T, has been named Streptomyces malaysiense after Malaysia. When grown in a special growth medium developed at Monash Malaysia, this species produces antioxidants and bioactive compounds that reduce the survival of cancer cells. It does this by altering processes in the cancer cells that normally grants the cancer cells immortality.
These encouraging findings were published in Scientific Reports and Frontiers in Microbiology and, in 2016, one of them was selected to receive the YSPSAH Excellent Scientific Paper Award by the Tiente Lee Biomedical Foundation.
Monash’s very own microbe
Monash researchers have recently begun exploring mangrove swamps in East Malaysia for new species in the Actinobacteria family. They got off to a good start by discovering a new Streptomyces species in Sarawak mangrove soil (strain MUSC 1JT) and have proposed naming the new microbe Streptomyces monashensis ,in honour of Monash University. The “Monash microbe” has shown signs that it could contribute to drug discovery, especially in the development of potential antioxidant agents, which may help in the fight against cancer. For more information on programmes at Monash University Malaysia, visit www. monash.edu.my