Antimicrobial active clones from soil metagenomic library

Soil metagenome is untapped total microbial genome including that of the majority of unculturable bacteria present in soil. We constructed soil metagenomic library in Escherichia coli using DNA directly extracted from two different soils, pine tree rhizosphere soil and forest topsoil. Metagenomic libraries constructed from pine tree rhizosphere soil and forest topsoil consisted of approximately 33,700 clones and 112,000 clones with average insert DNA size of 35-kb, respectively. Subsequently, we screened the libraries to select clones with antimicrobial activities against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Agrobacterium tumefaciens using double agar layer method. So far, we have a clone active against S. cerevisiae and a clone active against A. tumefaciens from the forest topsoil library. In vitro mutagenesis and DNA sequence analysis of the antifungal clone revealed the genes involved in the biosynthesis of antimicrobial secondary metabolite. Metagenomic libraries constructed in this study would be subject to search for diverse genetic resources related with useful microbial products.