Horse manure mushroom contains antibiotic

Horse manure mushroom contains antibiotic

09/11/2014

Researchers in Switzerland and Germany have discovered a possible new antibiotic on horse manure. It is a fungus, the shaggy manure-tintling that thrives on horse-apples. According to the scientists, a use in the food industry would be conceivable.

Mushroom grows on horse apples
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and the University of Bonn have discovered a possible new antibiotic on horse manure. This is a mushroom, the shaggy manure-Tintling, which thrives on the legacies of horses. As reported by the Swiss news agency SDA, the scientists managed to isolate a previously unknown substance from this fungus that kills bacteria. Copsine, as the substance is called, has the same effect as classical antibiotics. The researchers recently published their findings in the journal "The Journal of Biological Chemistry".

Possible use as antibiotic
On Friday, ETH announced that copsin is one of the so-called defensins. These are small proteins that many creatures produce themselves to ward off pathogenic microorganisms. It is still unclear what the drug from the horse excrement fungus could be used for. "Whether copsine can one day be used as an antibiotic in medicine remains to be seen. That's not certain, but it can not be ruled out, "says study author and mycologist Markus Aebi, according to press reports.

Application in the food industry conceivable
For the researchers of the ETH, who have already registered the active ingredient from the horse-apple mushroom for a patent, also an application in the food industry is conceivable. This is because the substance kills pathogenic germs such as Listeria. These bacteria can lead to life-threatening food poisoning, such as the reportable infectious disease listeriosis. They are therefore feared in the production of non-heated foods, such as raw milk cheese or dried meat. (Ad)