Sources of antibiotics: Hot springs

The discovery of antibiotics heralded an era of improved health care. However, the over-prescription and misuse of antibiotics resulted in the development of resistant strains of various pathogens. Since then, there has been an incessant search for discovering novel compounds from bacteria at various locations with extreme conditions. The soil is one of the most explored locations for bioprospecting. In recent times, hypersaline environments and symbiotic associations have been investigated for novel antimicrobial compounds. Among the extreme environments, hot springs are comparatively less explored. Many researchers have reported the presence of microbial life and secretion of antimicrobial compounds by microorganisms in hot springs. A pioneering research in the corresponding author's laboratory resulted in the identification of the antibiotic Fusaricidin B isolated from a hot spring derived eubacteria, Paenibacillus polymyxa, which has been assigned a new application for its anti-tubercular properties. The corresponding author has also reported anti-MRSA and anti-VRE activity of 73 bacterial isolates from hot springs in India.