Antibiotic-resistant pathogens could be defeated with the assistance of a synthetic antibiotic.
A brand-new antibiotic that was developed at The Rockefeller University using computational models of bacterial gene products appears to kill even bacteria that are resistant to other antibiotics. According to a study published in the journal Science, the drug, known as cilagicin, is effective in mice and employs a novel mechanism to combat MRSA, C. diff, and numerous other dangerous infections.
The findings imply that computer models may be used to develop a new class of antibiotics. “This isn’t just a cool new molecule, it’s a validation of a novel approach to drug discovery,” says Rockefeller’s Sean F. Brady. “This study is an example of computational biology, genetic sequencing, and synthetic chemistry coming together to unlock the secrets of bacterial evolution.”
Acting on eons of bacterial warfare
Bacteria have spent billions of years inventing novel methods to kill one another, so it’s not surprising that many of our most potent antibiotics originated from bacteria. With the exception of penicillin and a few other prominent antibiotics originating from fungus, the majority of antibiotics were first used as weapons by bacteria to combat other bacteria.
“Eons of evolution have given bacteria unique ways of engaging in warfare and killing other bacteria without their foes developing resistance,” says Brady, the Evnin Professor and head of the Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules. Antibiotic drug discovery once largely consisted of scientists growing streptomyces or bacillus in the lab and bottling their secrets to treat human diseases.
