{"id":258098,"date":"2025-10-29T05:53:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/258098\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T05:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:53:13","slug":"potent-new-antibiotic-against-resistant-bacteria-found-in-streptomyces-coelicolor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/258098\/","title":{"rendered":"Potent New Antibiotic Against Resistant Bacteria Found in Streptomyces coelicolor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3d<\/a>Credit: Olena_T \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the world\u2019s most urgent health challenges, with the WHO\u2019s recent report showing there are \u201ctoo few antibacterials in the pipeline\u201d and the limited commercial incentives deter investment in antibiotic discovery.<\/p>\n

The methylenomycins (methylenomycin A and B) are antibiotic compounds\u2014produced by the bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor A3\u2014that are cyclopentanone derivatives. They are effective against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.<\/p>\n

In a new study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society entitled, \u201cDiscovery of Late Intermediates in Methylenomycin Biosynthesis Active against Drug-Resistant Gram-Positive Bacterial Pathogens<\/a>,\u201d researchers report on a new antibiotic pre-methylenomycin C lactone\u2014an intermediate chemical in the natural process that produces methylenomycin A.<\/p>\n

\u201cMethylenomycin A was originally discovered 50 years ago and while it has been synthesized several times, no one appears to have tested the synthetic intermediates for antimicrobial activity,\u201d notes Greg Challis, PhD, professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick, and Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University. \u201cBy deleting biosynthetic genes, we discovered two previously unknown biosynthetic intermediates, both of which are much more potent antibiotics than methylenomycin A itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

When tested for antimicrobial activity, one of the intermediates, pre-methylenomycin C lactone, was shown to be over 100 times more active against diverse Gram-positive bacteria than the original antibiotic methylenomycin A.<\/p>\n

\"Antibiotic\"The biosynthesis pathway of methylenomcyin A as discovered in this experiment. The new precursors, especially pre-methylenomycin C lactone, show increased potency against Gram-positive bacterial pathogen compared to the original methylenomycin A. [Greg Challis\/University of Warwick]Specifically, it was shown to be effective against Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium, the bacterial species behind MRSA and VRE respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemarkably, the bacterium that makes methylenomycin A and pre-methylenomycin C lactone\u2014Streptomyces coelicolor\u2014is a model antibiotic-producing species that\u2019s been studied extensively since the 1950s. Finding a new antibiotic in such a familiar organism was a real surprise,\u201d notes Lona Alkhalaf, PhD, assistant professor, University of Warwick. \u201cIt looks like S. coelicolor originally evolved to produce a powerful antibiotic (pre-methylenomycin C lactone), but over time has changed it into methylenomycin A\u2014a much weaker antibiotic that may play a different role in the bacterium\u2019s biology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Importantly, the researchers could not detect any emergence of resistance to pre-methylenomycin C lactone in Enterococcus bacteria under conditions where vancomycin resistance is observed. Vancomycin is a \u201clast line\u201d treatment for Enterococcus infection, so this finding is especially promising for VRE, a WHO High Priority Pathogen.<\/p>\n

The next step in the development of the antibiotic will be pre-clinical testing. In a coordinated publication earlier this year in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, the work reported on a scalable synthesis of pre-methylenomycin C lactone, paving the way for further research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discovery suggests a new paradigm for antibiotic discovery,\u201d Challis asserts. \u201cBy identifying and testing intermediates in the pathways to diverse natural compounds, we may find potent new antibiotics with more resilience to resistance that will aid us in the fight against AMR.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Olena_T \/ Getty Images Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the world\u2019s most urgent health challenges, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[8612,12990,8871,139546,3,79,139547,19240],"class_list":["post-258098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-antibiotics","tag-bacteria","tag-infectious-diseases","tag-microbial-drug-resistance","tag-news","tag-science","tag-staphylococcus","tag-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}