A team of researchers from the McMaster University, in Canada, has identified a molecule that they have described as “Firm candidate” to become a new class of antibiotic: This is lariocidine. According to researchers, this molecule attacks bacteria in a different way from that of other antibiotics, which could be used to “even challenge some of the most resistant to drug bacteria.” Scientists have explained the results of their research in an article by the scientific journal Nature, in which other research groups from different countries have also participated.
The discovery responds to a critical need for new antimicrobial medications, since bacteria and other microorganisms develop new ways of resisting existing drugs. This resistance is, as explained by a statement from McMaster University, One of the main threats to public health on the planet, according to the World Health Organization.
“Our old drugs are less and less effective as bacteria become more resistant to them,” says Gerry Wright, who has directed the team. Some 4.5 million people die each year due to antibiotic -resistant infections and the situation does nothing but worsen, he emphasizes. Wright and his team discovered that The new molecule is “very promising” as the first pharmacological clue because it attacks bacteria in a different way from that of other antibiotics.
Scientists, optimistic about their resistance properties
Lariocidine is produced by a type of bacteria called paenibacillus, which the researchers obtained from A soil sample Collection in a backyard of Hamilton (city where the university is located). This joins directly to the protein synthesis machinery of a bacterium in a completely new way, inhibiting its capacity for growth and survival. “This is a new molecule with a new mode of action,” Wright summarizes.
The researchers observed how the bacteria of the soil sample grew for a year in the laboratory, until they observed that one of those bacteria (paenibacillus), produced A new very active substance against other bacteriaincluding those that are usually resistant to antibiotics.
Scientists are optimistic given the properties of lariocidine meets many requirements: It is not toxic to human cellsIt is not susceptible to the existing mechanisms of resistance to antibiotics and works well in an animal infection model.
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