ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Beneficial Soil Microbes: The Potential for New Antibiotic and Anticancer Agents

Updated on April 20, 2015
Source

Copyright 2012 - Kris Heeter


Soil is believed to contain the most diverse population of bacteria of any ecosystem on earth. With the large diversity of soil types out there, the number of unique microbial niches is vast. Most soil microbe populations have never been studied.

With recent advances in DNA sequencing and molecular techniques, scientists can now start to study this rich diversity more.

New populations are being discovered and the underground world of microbes is proving to hold a previously unforeseen potential value to medical research.


Source

How many species of bacteria are found in soil?

It has been estimated that of the number of species of bacteria per gram of soil could vary anywhere between 2,000 and 8.3 million.

To put it in a visual perspective: 1 gram is roughly equal to 1 small paper clip or pen cap.

That’s 2,000 to 8.3 million species living in the space of a paper clip or pen cap!

Up until recently, determining the number of microbial species in a soil sample was literally impossible and scientists could only provide estimates. Advances in DNA sequencing techniques is now allowing scientists to test these estimates.

The number of unique species may not be in the millions per gram of soil (the work is still very preliminary and the jury is still out) but the numbers coming out of recent studies are still pretty astounding. Try up to 52,000 on for size!


Source

Related References

Society for General Microbiology. (2012). "Harmless soil-dwelling bacteria successfully kill cancer." ScienceDaily, 4 Sep. 2011.

Reddy et al. (2012)Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Diversity in Geographically Distinct Soil Microbiomes.” Applied and Environmental Microbiology 78: 3744.

Gans et al. (2005). “Computational Improvements Reveal Great Bacterial Diversity and High Metal Toxicity in Soil” Science Vol 309 1387-1390

Roesch et al. (2007). Pyrosequencing enumerates and contrasts soil microbial diversity. The ISME Journal (2007) 1, 283–290


Getting the good dirt for medical advances

In 2011, scientists found that the spores of the soil bacterium Clostridium was a promising cancer-fighting microbe. This bacterium was found to have the ability to grow within tumors and can be genetically engineered to activate a cancer drug.

In the laboratory, Clostridium has been shown to work in tumor cells because its spores will only grow within solid tumors that are oxygen deprived, (e.g., breast, brain and prostate tumors). Healthy tissues and cells are not affected by the bacterium because Clostridium cannot proliferate in these oxygen rich environments. Reports suggest this new advancement could be tested in cancer patients as early as 2013.

These results have opened the door to the notion that other bacteria in the soil may hold similar potential in medical advancements.


But how does one find a good needle (microbe) in the haystack (soil)?


While millions and probably billions of bacterial species live in the soil, they are difficult and often impossible to culture in a laboratory setting. Up until recently that has made exploring and classifying these microbes difficult. More modern DNA sequencing advances and molecular technology is allowing scientists to identify and study soil microbes at a level never before possible.

In an recent study, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) at Rockefeller University were able to directly extract DNA from soil microbes, amplify it and study it at a molecular level. Using this approach, this research team was able to create “libraries” of microbial DNA sequences which are now being tested for the potential to encode drug-like molecules, antibiotics and cancer-fighting molecules.


Discovering New Species

Scientists estimate that there are millions of new species (microbial, plant and animal) waiting to be be identified.

Each year, the number of new species identified are tabulated - the number discovered each year might surprise you - take a guess at:

How Many New Species Have Been Discovered in One Year?

Some marine biologist have speculated that up to 20 million new marine microbial species may still be waiting to be discovered.

The number of soil microbes waiting to be discovered is most likely in the millions as well!



Future of soil microbial studies in medical and cancer research

In the HHMI study mentioned above, soils from three similar ecological terrains in the U.S. Southwest were examined. While from an environmental standpoint, the areas are similar they are geographically distinct. Surprisingly each location has a very different microbial population. These findings suggest that soil microbial populations are far more diverse than originally thought.

This large diversity means that there is a greater possibility other microbes are out there that may prove useful in disease-fighting compounds.

Undoubtedly, identifying genetic material from newly identified soil bacteria for possible medical therapeutic reagents will continue and prove to be very interesting.


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)