UCLA Library

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant diseases and increases in plant disease outbreaks, that threaten global food security, present major growing public health crises. Since most antibiotics originate from soil microorganisms, soil microbial communities offer promising reservoirs for discovering new compounds. This study explores antibiotic-producing rhizobacteria in Sage Hill's soil, a recently restored environment at UCLA. Biochemical and functional assays were used to characterize soil microbial communities from rhizosphere samples taken from Sage Hill. Using these methods, we identified antibiotic-producing bacteria, and likely Pseudomonas and Bacillus. These results underscore the importance of investigating soil microbial communities for novel antibiotic discovery and agricultural sustainability.