Anti-mycobacterial activity of heat and pH stable high molecular weight protein(s) secreted by a bacterial laboratory contaminant.

Background: Tuberculosis currently stands as the second leading cause of deaths worldwide due to single  infectious agent after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The current challenges of drug resistance in tuberculosis highlight an urgent need to develop newer anti-mycobacterial compounds. In the present study, we report the serendipitous discovery of a bacterial laboratory contaminant (LC-1) exhibiting a zone of growth inhibition on an agar plate seeded with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.