[ad_1]
Researchers at ETH Zurich discovered new antibiotic-effective chemicals on a field weed. This could provide opportunities to overcome existing antibiotic resistance.
11:10, July 27, 2018
Researchers at ETH Zurich discovered that they had a new chemical antibiotic-active Substances discovered. This could provide opportunities to overcome existing antibiotic resistance. Many of the antibiotics used today have been developed on the basis of natural products that bacteria produce themselves to repel other bacteria. These substances have been researched and found mainly in the soil.
Julia Vorholt and Jörn Piel, of the Institute of Microbiology of ETH Zurich, turned to a completely different ecosystem: the leaf area of plants. As part of the national Antimicrobial Resistance research program, they examined bacterial strains of the surface of the leaves of watercress tuna
. This microcosm, called phyllosphere, is very poor in nutrients. "This brings with it a lot of competitive pressure," Vorholt said in a statement from the Swiss National Science Foundation, which supports the project. "That's why bacteria produce a wide variety of substances that help them defend their habitat," said the researcher. Despite the shortage of food, a large number of organisms populate the phyllosphere.
In collaboration with Piel, Vorholt studied more than two hundred bacterial strains. Although their genomes have been decrypted for the latter, they have so far hardly been specifically badyzed. The researchers found 725 antibiotic interactions between different strains that prevent certain bacteria from stopping to reproduce.
"The big question, of course, was whether we only found substances already known in other habitats, or whether we encountered compounds with completely new properties," says Piel. extremely important for research on antibiotics: it is looking for new antibiotics with mechanisms of action significantly different from those of current drugs, thus overcoming existing resistance to antibiotics.
For this, researchers had to study in detail The exact chemical composition They did it for gene clusters and substances from a single bacterial strain that turned out to be a particularly active producer.They discovered several antibiotic chemicals. One of them, named by Macrobrevin researchers, has an absolutely new chemical structure.
It's all about now to clarify if Macrobrevin and other newly discovered substances are also acting against the bacteria that cause diseases in humans. For the scientist, the fact that he has discovered so many natural products for antibiotics is gratifying: "This incredibly diverse ecosystem can certainly provide many new approaches to medicine, and our results confirm that it's worth the worth looking for antibiotics in the field of antibiotics Nature, "said Piel.
[ad_2]
Source link
