Methods ● Soil bacteria was grown on control and ginger-treated plates ● “Library” plates were made from select colonies ● Library plates were screened against ESKAPE pathogen relatives as well as P. Carotovora ● Any colonies that produced zones of inhibition were recorded ● Genetic data was collected from select antibiotic - producing colonies ● Fisher exact test was performed on antibiotic data Results • P value of 0.3820 was computed. • No statistical significance between the conditions. •15 colonies effective against Staphylococcus Epidermidis •3 colonies effective against Pectobacterium Carotovora •1 colony effective against Enterobacter Aerogenes • 1 colony effective against acinetobacter baylyi •5 colonies effective against Bacillus Subtilis •0 colonies effective against Pseudomonas Putida Discussion/Conclusions With statistical analysis, ginger’s relationship to antibiotic-producing bacteria was determined. The added ginger did not impact the ability of bacteria to produce antibiotics enough to be statistically significant. Research will continue to differentiate if different additives or soil from other locations impact the bacteria’s ability to create a zone of inhibition to advance the development of antibiotics. Acknowledgements KK, SF, CB, & MS would like to gratefully acknowledge the help of Dr. Joshua Pultorak for explaining all techniques and methods used throughout the project, along with the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the University of Wisconsin-Madison for providing the laboratory space and materials for use. The layout is only an example – you must edit EVERY field Poster size: Width = 42" Height = 32" References 1. Rossolini, G. M., Arena, F., Pecile, P., & Pollini, S. (2014). Update on the antibiotic resistance crisis. Current Opinion in Pharmacology, 18(1), 56–60. Science Direct. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coph.2014.09.006 2. Ventola, C. L. (2015). The antibiotic resistance crisis: Part 1: Causes and threats. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 40(4), 277. Retrieved from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4378521/ 3. Malu, S. P., Obochi, G. O., Tawo, E. N., & Nyong, B. E. (2009). Antibacterial activity and medicinal properties of ginger (zingiber officinale). Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, 15(3-4). https://doi.org/10.4314/gjpas.v15i3-4.48561 The effect of ginger on antibiotic production in soil bacteria Katie Kim, Sophia Fergus, Connor Barry, & Makena Sowinski Introductory Biology 152 , Dept. of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin–Madison Introduction The issue of antibiotic resistance is becoming increasingly prevalent, and affects many groups of people including patients, pharmaceutical companies, and researchers. Antibiotics tend to become less effective over time due to resistance among bacterial pathogens. 1 In 2011, during the national survey of infectious diseases, 60% of doctors stated that they had seen a bacterial infection that was resistant to more than one antibiotic and did not respond to treatment. 2 After recognizing the global life-threatening effects of antibiotic resistance, it is important that new antibiotic growth be discovered. Historically, ginger has been used medicinally. This idea is supported by the fact that ginger does have antimicrobial properties. 3 Knowing that ginger contains antimicrobials, causes us to question the interaction between ginger’s properties and the microbes in soil. Millions of microbes that could be possible antibiotic producers are found in soil and have yet to be discovered. This leads us to our research question: how does the additive of powdered ginger to bacterial growth affect antibiotic production?We hypothesize that the addition of powdered ginger to diluted soil solutions will increase antibiotic growth. Figure 1: A total of 119 isolates in the control group and 10 of these produced a zone of inhibition. 107 total isolates for the ginger additive group and 13 produced a zone of inhibition. ESKAPE pathogens: a group of 6 pathogens known for common infections and infamous for their antibiotic resistance Abstract The prevalence of the issue of antibiotic resistance is growing as an increasing amount of antibiotics are becoming resistant to the bacteria and infections they are supposed to be eliminating. The goal of this research is to increase antibiotic production in microbe rich places, such as soil, by using an additive with medicinal and antimicrobial properties, such as ginger. This goal led to the research question: “How does the additive of ginger affect the amount of antibiotic growth in soil?” Previous research supports the fact that ginger can fight disease and bacteria because of its antimicrobial properties (Malu, et al., 2009). Because of this, it is hypothesized that ginger will increase antibiotic production through increased numbers of zones of inhibition. Single colonies of bacteria were grown and incubated in control plates and in plates tested with ginger. The results showed that while there were more zones of inhibition on the plates tested with ginger, the correlation is statistically insignificant because of a p-value of .3820. These results show the potential of using antimicrobial additives in soil to increase the amount of antibiotic producers, but needs further testing to create a significant conclusion.