NEW ANTIBIOTIC FOUND IN POTATO BACTERIA
The discovery could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance
An international research team has discovered a new antibiotic in potatoes. Dubbed solanimycin, the discovery suggests that plant-based microorganisms might represent a rich source of antibiotics to which bacteria are not yet resistant.
Antibiotic medications are becoming increasingly ineffective against bacterial infections, as their widespread use has enabled bacteria to evolve resistance to them. But most of the antibiotics prescribed today are derived from microbes found in soil and there others to be found elsewhere.
“We have to look more expansively across much more of the microbial populations available to us,” said Dr Rita Monson, a microbiologist from the University of Cambridge and a member of the team that found solanimycin.
Solanimycin is produced by the bacterium Dickeya solani and is an effective treatment against a wide range of crop-killing fungi. In lab tests, solanimycin was also effective against Candida albicans, a fungus that can cause serious infections in humans.
The team has started working with chemists to learn more about solanimycin and to better understand how it works.
“Our future steps are focused on trying to use this antibiotic for plant protection,” said team member Dr Miguel Matilla, from Spain’s Estación Experimental del Zaidín.
“We have to look more expansively across more of the microbial populations available to us”
Bacteria have been evolving to resist the effects of antibiotics ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. If bacteria resistance continues to evolve, it’s estimated that all currently known antibiotics might become ineffective within decades. Such an outcome would be devastating. According to a report commissioned by the UK government, the number of deaths antibiotic resistance would lead to could cause the world’s population to fall by 300 million by 2050.
How antibiotic resistance arises
