Researchers discover novel antibiotic agent
An international team of researchers has discovered an antibiotic compound which is effective against a broad spectrum of pathogens. First tests have shown that it does not generate resistance. A research group from the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) participated in the research project, which is described in the current issue of Nature.
There is an urgent need for new antibiotics because the currently used agents are more frequently encountering multidrug-resistant bacteria against which they are ineffective. There has now been a search for novel active substances which cannot be easily rendered ineffective by bacteria. The quest has been painstaking and the rate of success extremely low. The researchers now see great potential in particular in previously unknown soil bacteria, which could act as a source of novel active substances. An international research team from the USA, Great Britain and Germany went to the trouble of looking for these and were rewarded: They succeeded in developing a specific culturing method with which they could isolate previously unknown soil bacteria and, by means of a new screening method, discovered the novel antibiotic agent “teixobactin”.
Dr Tanja Schneider, who leads a DZIF junior research group at the University of Bonn, and deciphered the mechanism of action in this novel bacteriostatic agent, is happy, “This is a highly interesting active substance, because no resistance has been induced in tests up to now.” Like many other known antibiotics, teixobactin inhibits cell wall synthesis in bacteria. However, a significant difference, and presumably also the reason why bacteria are unable to rapidly develop resistance against it, is: Teixobactin not only binds to one target site during cell wall synthesis, as many other known antibiotics do, but targets several different sites simultaneously.
Schneider is convinced, “Antibiotics with new mechanisms of action are a breakthrough for research.” Teixobactin, which is produced by Elefhtheria terrae—the chosen name for the newly discovered bacterium—is definitely a promising candidate for a novel drug against different Gram-positive bacteria, such as the pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae. First investigations in mice have been successful. Its tolerance and efficacy in humans still needs to be confirmed in clinical trials.
