Phylogeny and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Bacteria in Sediments of Aegean Sea

The bacterial diversity and antimicrobial resistance in coastal areas indicate the variability in the community structures and metabolic activities.In the present study, antibiotic susceptibility and phylogenetic analysis of bacteria isolated from stations with different depths and influenced by terrestrial and marine fluxes in eastern Aegean Sea were illustrated.Half of the isolates were found as resistant and 14 percent showed high MAR index indicating the high-risk sources of contamination in the environment.According to 16S rRNA gene analysis, the isolates were found as belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and the class Gammaproteobacteria with the genera Bacillus, Halomonas, Oceanobacillus, Photobacterium, Pseudoalteromonas, Psychrobacter and Vibrio.Approximately half of Bacillus strains which were dominant among all isolates were resistant.In addition to phylogenetically diverse bacteria, the variability in resistance, intermediate and high MAR index levels of the study area indicated the effect of geographical differences.