Microorganisms have been known for their diverse natural products chemistry. In particular, soil microorganisms have produced several chemicals to help them grow, survive and compete with other species. As a result, studies have reported the substantial role of soil microorganisms in the discovery of antimicrobial compounds and their chemically-synthesized products (Mahajan et al., 2012; Kandula et al., 2013). However, with the inevitable evolution of resistant pathogens and their growing antimicrobial resistance, continuous search of antimicrobial compounds is necessary.

The Philippines, being in a strategic location along the typhoon belt and ring of fire, possesses a rich and diverse plant species which has a significant direct effect on soil microbial abundance (Lamb et al., 2011). Due to this, various studies have been conducted on the isolation of antibiotic-producing microorganisms and their antibiotic compounds they produce. However, the studies are limited only to general screening and morphological identification of microbial isolates (Parungao et al., 2016). Moreover, screening of natural products from soil microorganisms are prone to "rediscovery" of known antimicrobial compounds in the standard laboratory conditions, restricting their potential biosynthetic diversity (Vinale et al., 2017.

In this study, isolated microorganisms will be co-cultured with other microorganisms to reduce the time spent for rediscovery of known compounds. This approach mimics the ecological environment of the microorganisms which is susceptible to competition (Marmann et al. 2014). Through this approach, there will be an increased chance of discovering novel antibiotic compounds that will emerge from communication between the microorganisms.