Have Our Bodies Held the Key to New Antibiotics All Along?

Article

As the threat of antibiotic resistance grows, scientists are turning to the human body and the trillion or so bacteria that have colonized us - collectively called our microbiota - for new clues to fighting microbial infections. They've logged an early success with the discovery of a new antibiotic candidate from vaginal bacteria, reports Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

Matt Davenport, a C&EN contributing editor, explains that the human microbiota produces thousands of small molecules. Some have been discovered and tested, but by and large, very little is known about most of them. However, it could be well worth finding out more. Doctors are already prescribing pharmaceuticals based on small molecules made by exotic bacteria from the earth and sea, meaning our own microbes could be an untapped and accessible source of novel drugs. But rifling through all of the microbiota's natural products for a hit is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

To shrink that haystack, one team of scientists took a systematic, computer-assisted approach. They designed software to compare the microbiota's collective genes, or microbiome, against genes that are already known or suspected to play a role in producing small molecules that help keep microbes, and maybe their hosts, healthy. The team found more than 3,000 such gene clusters. One of those, from the vaginal bacteria Lactobacillus gasseri, contains the code for a small molecule that is very similar to a recently discovered antibiotic now undergoing clinical testing. When the scientists tested the Lactobacillus molecule in the lab, they found it attacked Gram-positive bacteria, some of which can cause human illness.

Source: American Chemical Society

Recent Videos
Andrea Thomas, PhD, DVM, MSc, BSc, director of epidemiology at BlueDot
Infection Control Today Editorial Advisory Board: Fibi Attia, MD, MPH, CIC.
mpox   (Adobe Stock 924156809 by Andreas Prott)
Meet Alexander Sundermann, DrPH, CIC, FAPIC.
Veterinary Infection Prevention
Andreea Capilna, MD, PhD
Meet the Infection Control Today Editorial Advisory Board Members: Priya Pandya-Orozco, DNP, MSN, RN, PHN, CIC.
Meet Infection Control Today's Editorial Board Member: Tommy Davis, PhD, ACHE, APIC, BLS
Fungal Disease Awareness Week
Related Content