Abstract
Antifungal activity has been detected in many bacterial genera, both saprophytes and human pathogens, including Actinomadura, Actinoplanes, Arthrobacter, Micromonospora, Streptomyces, Nocardia, Mycobacterium, Aureobacterium, Bacillus, Brevibacterium, Lactobacillus, Rhodococcus, Micrococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Escherichia, Proteus, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Serratia, Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Stenotrophomonas, Agrobacterium, Alcaligenes, Azotobacter, Clostridium and Fusobacterium. A variety of methods have been used to detect this activity in vitro. Presumably, this activity confers an ecological advantage on a bacterial population which competes with other species in a particular habitat. The significance of this activity includes the following. First, development of therapeutic antifungal drugs. Second, development of plant protection agents. Third, fungal growth inhibition within the human body in sites with a normal flora with effects on the pathogenesis and course of human infection. Fourth, inhibition of pathogenic fungi in human clinical specimens, reducing the likelihood of in vitro culture of fungi.