Competitive dominance of antibiotic-producing marine bacteria in mixed cultures.

Competitive relationships between antibiotic-producing marine bacteria and other non-producers were studied in seawater mixed cultures. Producer strains showed a competitive advantage against non-producers as the latter were inhibited after a short time. Inhibition was also noted in mixed cultures of two producer strains. The inhibitory effect was not observed in a mixed culture with two non-producers, which indicates that an amensalist interaction occurred between populations of antibiotic-producing and non-producing marine bacteria. The results suggest that antibiotics could play an important role in the competitive relationships between marine bacterial populations.