Production of novel antimicrobial protein from Bacillus licheniformis strain JS and its application against antibiotic-resistant pathogens

BSTRACT Bacillus licheniformis strain JS has been shown to produce antimicrobial protein (AMP) using wheat bran as carbon and nitrogen source. Monitoring of AMP production revealed maximum after 72 h and extracted optimally at 70% saturation of ammonium sulphate. The extracted protein was further purified by ion exchange column chromatography which was eluted at 0.3 M NaCl concentration. The 16 kDa purified antimicrobial protein shows more activity against Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus cereus as compared to other bacteria. Further, combinatorial effect of AMP with antibiotics showed increased efficiency of Kanamycin, Neomycin and Streptomycin. So, the AMP extracted from B. licheniformis strain JS could be promising to increase the efficiency of present antibiotics against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Thus, this study could be useful to design new therapeutic strategies to treat infectious diseases.