Collaborative Research Centre 990: Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems (Sumatra, Indonesia) (Phase 3: 2020 – 2023)

Study of soil myxobacteria diversity in lowland rainforest and converted rainforest in Jambi

Myxobacteria are a group of deltaproteobacteria characterized by their fruiting bodies and gliding motility. Many reports suggested that these bacteria are capable of producing potential secondary metabolites with anti-infective activities, such as myxovirescin, soraphen, and epothilone. They can be isolated from soil, plant materials, and marine samples. Indonesian rain forests are suspected as biodiversity rich habitat, colonized by millions of bacteria, including myxobacteria. So far, there is insufficient data regarding Indonesian myxobacteria and with a massive conversion of rain forest into oil palm plantation and other industrial plants in Sumatera, the existence of these potential bacteria in the soil might be affected. Therefore, this research is conducted to study the diversity of soil myxobacteria in lowland rain forest and converted rain forest in Jambi using culture dependent and culture independent approach. Study