In Vitro Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Organic and Aqueous Extracts of Bacillus clausii KP10
Humans and plants are experiencing different kinds of diseases. Many of these diseases are mainly caused by microorganisms like fungi, bacteria and viruses that adversely affect their hosts. Bioactive compounds produced by bacteria can be used to treat the infections caused by these microorganisms. Free radicals that can cause serious damage to the cell can be repressed by antioxidants that are produced by bacteria as secondary compounds. The current case study was therefore planned to investigate the antimicrobial and antioxidant potentials of the organic and aqueous extracts of Bacillus clausii KP10 isolated recently by our group from hot springs of Tatta Pani, Poonch, Azad Kashmir. The antimicrobial activities were assessed using well diffusion method against two Gram positive bacteria; B. subtilis, and S. aureus, and two Gram negative bacteria; E. coli and P. multocida and three fungal strains; A. niger, A. parasiticus and A. ustus. Antioxidant activities of the extracts were done by DPPH free radical scavenging assay. In our experiments the maximum zones of inhibition were shown by ethanolic extract against P. multocida (21 mm), S. aureus (13 mm) and methanol soluble fraction showed zone of inhibition against A. ustus (21 mm) as compared to the standard ciprofloxacin for bacteria and as antifungal agents with terbinafine. In our studies n-hexane fraction of B. clausii KP10 showed maximum 88.67% antioxidant activity. Finally, results were analyzed statistically through analysis of variance (ANOVA). Hence it is proved that the bioactive fractions obtained from B. clausii KP10 are good source of antimicrobials and antioxidants and they can be used as medicines in future for the respective treatments.