{"id":18767,"date":"2022-10-10T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=129147"},"modified":"2022-10-10T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T13:19:08","slug":"new-lifesaving-antibiotic-found-in-potato-bacteria","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/new-lifesaving-antibiotic-found-in-potato-bacteria\/","title":{"rendered":"New lifesaving antibiotic found in potato bacteria"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jason Goodyer\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 10 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928, bacteria have been evolving new strategies to resist the effects of antibiotics<\/a>. If this trend is allowed to continue, it is estimated that all currently known antibiotics could become ineffective within decades. According to a report by the\u00a0Review On Antimicrobial Resistance<\/em>, the problem could cause the world\u2019s population to fall by almost half a billion by 2050.<\/p>\n

Now, an international team of researchers has discovered a new antibiotic in bacteria that infects potatoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dubbed solanimycin, the antibiotic is effective against a wide range of crop-killing fungi, the researchers say. In lab tests, it was also effective against Candida albicans<\/em> \u2013 a naturally occurring fungus that can cause serious infections..<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an antifungal that we believe will work by killing fungal competitors, and the bacteria benefit so much from this,\u201d said team member and microbiologist Dr Rita Monson<\/a>, from the University of Cambridge. \u201cBut you don\u2019t turn it on unless you\u2019re in a potato.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most currently used therapeutic antibiotics are produced from soil microbes but the discovery of solanimycin highlights the potential of plant-based microorganisms to produce the drugs.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that the pathogenic potato bacterium\u00a0Dickeya solani<\/i>, produces small amounts of solanimycin when placed into an acidic environment, such as that present in a potato.<\/p>\n

They have now started working with chemists to learn more about the molecular structure of solanimycin and to better understand how it works.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur future steps are focused on trying to use this antibiotic antifungal for plant protection,\u201d said team member and molecular microbiologist Miguel Matilla<\/a>, from the Spanish Research Council\u2019s Estaci\u00f3n Experimental del Zaid\u00edn, in Granada.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to open to the exploration of everything that\u2019s out there to find new antibiotics.\u201d<\/p>\n