New antibiotics against resistant germs come from the earth

Simple earth holds the key to new antibiotics?

Is it possible that future drug-resistant bacteria could be treated with a new form of antibiotic derived from the soil? Researchers now found that microorganisms found in the soil seem to be the key in the production of new antibiotics.

A major breakthrough was achieved in a study of new potent antibiotics. Scientists at Rockefeller University in New York reported discovering a new class of antibiotics derived from soil-borne unknown microorganisms. The physicians published the results of their study in the English-language journal "Nature Microbiology".

There are pathogens of diseases that are resistant to many drugs. New antibiotics derived from the soil could enable effective treatment of such agents in the future.

Mold has led to the development of penicillin

When a British scientist by the name of Alexander Fleming found a bacteria-killing mold in one of his Petri dishes, it was a revolutionary moment in the history of medicine. The researcher discovered penicillin, the world's first antibiotic.

Super-pathogens are resistant to most drugs

But already ninety years later, antibiotic-resistant pathogens posed a major problem for society. Such so-called super-pathogens have already developed resistance to dozens of medicines. This leads to infections that are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Global deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections are expected to reach ten million a year by 2050, experts say. More and more doctors around the world are trying to create new effective antibiotics.

New antibiotics come from the earth

In a recent investigation, the researchers this time tried not to breed antibiotics in a Petri dish, instead, they searched for it in the ground. Scientists at Rockefeller University in New York were looking for a reservoir of antibiotics that naturally occurs in the environment. There are many bacteria in the Earth whose behavior has not yet been researched, says study author microbiologist Sean Brady.

Malacidines work against MRSA

The new class of antibiotics is called malacidines. It is capable of killing various multidrug-resistant super-pathogens, including the dreaded hospital germ, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), without inducing resistance. Unfortunately, it will take years before a new molecule is developed, tested and approved for distribution. In other words, Malacidine will not be available at the pharmacy in the near future. But the discovery is proof of a strong principle. A world of potentially useful untapped biodiversity is still waiting to be discovered, the expert adds.

Bacteria from the soil formed malacidines

In their study, the scientists took more than a thousand samples of soil from all over the USA. They searched for products of mold fungi and soil microbes. The samples were examined to determine and analyze the bacteria contained therein. Such bacteria are capable of producing antibiotic agents themselves. Indeed, by deciphering the DNA from the bacteria, the experts actually found genes that could produce malacidines.

How do Malacidines work??

In experiments it could be determined that malacidines act very effectively against a number of bacterial pathogens. It was also possible to investigate how malacidides kill these pathogens. Malacidides attack a specific molecule, causing disruption to cell wall construction and cell survival, the researchers explain.

Further experiments on rats confirmed the efficacy

Because of the high potential of malacidines as new antibiotics, efficacy was tested in further animal experiments. For this the physicians used laboratory rats. The rats were infected with the multidrug-resistant hospital bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. This usually leads to a serious infection on the skin of the experimental animals. When applied to sections in the skin of MRSA-infected rats, the previously unknown molecule successfully sterilized the wounds, the experts report. The bacterium showed no signs of resistance even after three weeks of exposure. The results showed that the malacidines could achieve a complete skin regeneration. The animals finally became completely healthy again.

Malacidins do not cause rapid development of resistance

The scientists now hope that malacidines in the future to become effective antibiotics, which could be used to treat previously resistant pathogens. In addition, another advantage seems to be that with the use of malacidines no rapid development of resistance is to be feared, the doctors suspect.

Bacteria have developed effective weapons

Bacteria have been fighting each other for billions of years, experts say. It is therefore not surprising that bacteria have developed the most effective weapons. However, the vast majority of these microbes do not grow well under controlled laboratory conditions, making them difficult to study. It would be better to derive interesting molecules directly from the environment, explain the physicians. And with the advent of metagenomics, which allows mass sequencing of all the genetic material in a sample, researchers can do just that. (As)