Effect of natamycin on the enumeration, genetic structure and composition of bacterial community isolated from soils and soybean rhizosphere

Natamycin is commonly used to control fungal growth on agar media used for bacterial enumeration or strain isolation. However, there is no conclusive report on the possible effect of this antibiotic on bacterial growth or on the diversity of the recovered soil bacteria. Therefore, the possible effects of natamycin on the numbers of bacteria isolated at 12 degrees C from three different soils and soybean rhizosphere soil were investigated using natamycin concentrations ranging from 0 to 200 mg l(-1). Our results demonstrate that natamycin concentrations, which inhibit the growth of fungi on the media, have a small but significant inhibitory effect on the number of bacterial colony forming un…