Abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe a new variant of Janthinobacterium lividum - ROICE173, isolated from Antarctic snow, and to investigate the antimicrobial effect of the crude bacterial extract against 200 multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria of both clinical and environmental origin, displaying various antibiotic resistance patterns. ROICE173 is extremotolerant, grows at high pH (5.5-9.5), in high salinity (3%) and in the presence of different xenobiotic compounds and various antibiotics. The best violacein yield (4.59 ± 0.78 mg·g(-1) wet biomass) was obtained at 22 °C, on R2 broth supplemented with 1% glycerol. When the crude extract was tested for antimicrobial activity, a clear bactericidal effect was observed on 79 strains (40%), a bacteriostatic effect on 25 strains (12%) and no effect in the case of 96 strains (48%). A very good inhibitory effect was noticed against numerous MRSA, MSSA, Enterococci, and Enterobacteriaceae isolates. For several environmental E. coli strains, the bactericidal effect was encountered at a violacein concentration below of what was previously reported. A different effect (bacteriostatic vs. bactericidal) was observed in the case of Enterobacteriaceae isolated from raw vs. treated wastewater, suggesting that the wastewater treatment process may influence the susceptibility of MDR bacteria to violacein containing bacterial extracts.