Compound discovery could lead to new antibiotic

Scientists performing research into the different chemical outputs that different microbes produce have found a compound that could be a new type of antibiotics. During the search of the chemicals produced by thousands of different forms of microbes, scientists have discovered an unusually structured compound that could lead to breakthroughs in medical research.

An increasing number of bacteria have become resistant to the current types of antibiotics available, meaning that it is difficult to design an effective treatment. Antibiotics tend to bind to ribosomes, which stops the bacterial protein synthesis, and so scientists tend to look for compounds that also act in this way.

Researchers from the University of Camerino in Italy screened cultures of over 5,000 different species of bacteria and fungi to assess their chemical output. One microorganism was found to produce a chemical that was able to stop E.coli expressing protein, but did not shut down the yeast system. This ability is a good signifier that the compound would be suitable for the treatment of humans.

This compound was then separated using high-performance liquid chromatography in order to find which molecule was responsible. Each fraction of the bacterium was tested to see if it successfully blocked E.coli protein expression. Through this process researchers were able to identify the compound and used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine its structure. The molecule has been named orthoformimycin.

After further testing of the orthoformimycin molecule, researchers found that it was able to block around 80 per cent of a variety of different RNA templates from translating. It was also found that the molecule was able to bind with an aspect of the E.coli ribosome, which altered the movements of mRNA and the transfer of RNA.

It is not yet known whether the discovery of this compound will lead to the development of a new type of antibiotics. However, it could affect the way in which suitable compounds are identified.