Ulrich Vaconcelos, Maria Alice Gomes de Andrade Lima and Glicia Maria Torres Calazans
Keywords: Pyocyanin-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, antagonism.
Abstract: Screening aquatic Pseudomonads which inhibit growth of Escherichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes produced sixteen strains of pyocyanin-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Cell enumeration was carried out by the Most-Probable- Number technique for 96h by using diluted Müeller-Hinton broth. Conditions favouring pyocyanin production resulted in reduced growth of coliform strains. Representative strains were resistant to ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and imipenem. It was also verified that a high population of coliform strains was reached when grown individually. Results show that there was an antagonistic phenomenon provided by Pseudomonas aeruginosa against coliform bacteria when pyocyanin was formed. This paper highlights the risks for human and environmental health that this phenomenon represents.
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