Microbiome of Pukzing Cave in India shows high antimicrobial activity against plant and animal pathogens

Pukzing cave, the largest cave of Mizoram, India was explored for bacterial diversity. Culture dependent method revealed 235 bacterial isolates using three different treatments. Identity of the microbial species was confirmed by 16S rDNA sequencing. The highest bacterial population was recovered from heat treatment (n = 97;41.2%) followed by normal (n = 79;33.6%) and cold treatment (n = 59;25.1%) indicating dominance of moderate thermophiles. Antimicrobial potential of isolates showed 20.4% isolates having antimicrobial ability against tested pathogens. Amplicon sequencing of PKSI, PKSII and NRP specific genes revealed presence of AMP genes in the microbial population. Six microbial pathogens were selected for screening as they are well known for different disease cause organism in various fields such as agriculture and human health. Cave environment harbors unique microbial flora and hypervariable region V4 is more informative. Higher activity of AMP assay against these microbes indicates that cave microbial communities could be potential source of future genomic resources. •Study revealed Pukzing cave ecosystem as a unique source of endemic and moderate thermophilic microorganisms.•Amplicon sequencing of PKSI, PKSII and NRP specific genes revealed presence of AMP genes in the microbial population.•Cave environment harbours unique microbial flora and hypervariable region V4 was found to be more informative.•The study concludes that cave microbial communities could be potential source of future genomic resources.