The Griffon News

A sampling of microorganisms in Agenstein Hall uncovers a currently unnamed bacteriocin that can survive in temperature that reach minus 20 degrees Celsius and can kill other organisms.

Dr. Jason Baker of the biology department came across this bacterium during a class that collected specimens. Through a microscope he saw that nothing was growing around it.

“It grew up on a plate and nothing grew around it,” Baker said. “There was a zone of killing and that’s how I noticed it.”
He became interested in what was taking place and wanted to identify the bacteria. In the process of identifying it, he was given two possibilities. Judith Knadler, an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim and Western student, had access to a Vetmedica.
That analysis identified it as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. A different analysis named it Brevibacterium halotolerans. Neither species have been heavily studied. Baker simply refers to the specimen as Bacteriocin X.

“What I would like to know more about is what is this thing and what are its properties,” Baker said. “What we’ve really gotten to is the second phase first.”

The study currently shows that Bacteriocin X can kill non-pathogenic species of E. coli, Salmonella and S. aureus. The bacteriocin was tested for its response to a range in pH and temperature. The bacteriocin is still stable after two hours of exposure to pH 2 or pH 12. The microbe can survive 10 days in up to 37 C, 1 hour in 100 C, and 30 minutes at 121 C. The bacteriocin was placed in the presence of mammalian cells growing in a cell culture from a mouse. In high amounts, Bacteriocin X can kill mammalian cells.

The work done this summer was with Susan Brock of Western, Judith Knadler of Western and Meredith Triplet of Central High School. There are still goals the team hopes to reach.

Brock is excited about the results but would like to purify the bacteria.

“I would like to start purifying the actual bacteriocin from the cell culture filtrate,” Brock said.

Knadler would personally like to collect data on how this species holds up against molds and fungi.

“We haven’t tested it against molds yet,” Knadler said. “I’ve got molds and yeast to test it against, I just haven’t done it yet.”