An Undesirable Bacterium Discovered In Potatoes Generates A New Antibiotic

Since antimicrobial resistance is a growing problem, scientists are always searching for novel compounds.

The discovery of the brand-new antifungal drug salinomycin was announced this week in mBio by an international research team based in Europe. The molecule, which was initially identified from a pathogenic bacterium that infects potatoes, appears to be produced by a wide variety of closely related plant pathogenic bacteria.

The scientists discovered that a number of fungi known to harm and infect agricultural crops are inhibited by salinomycin. A fungus that typically exists in the body but can cause potentially deadly infections, Candida albicans, was likewise blocked in laboratory experiments by the chemical. The results suggest that salinomycin and related medications might be useful in clinical and agricultural settings.

Soil microorganisms, notably those from the phylum Actinobacteria, create the majority of prescription antibiotics used today.

The pathogenic potato bacterium Dickeya solani, which was identified more than 15 years ago, produces salinomycin. The University of Cambridge’s group of molecular microbiologist George Salmond’s researchers began investigating the substance’s antibacterial potential about ten years ago.

Solanimycin is not the first antibiotic made from bacteria. Researchers have previously found that D. solani produces oocyte A, an antibiotic that is highly effective against a number of fungal plant diseases.

According to Matilla, who also examined the organism’s genome, these prior discoveries revealed that the bacterium might create other antibiotics with the potential to be antifungal. That information was useful since Matilla, Monson, Salmond, and their associates found that the bacteria maintained their antifungal action even after the genes required for the production of oocyte A were silenced.

As a result of that observation, the chemical salinomycin and the gene clusters in charge of the proteins that generate it were found.

The researchers found that the chemical is produced by the bacterium in response to cell density and is only sometimes used. An environment with a high pH of acidity, such as that present in potatoes, also activates the salinomycin gene cluster. According to Monson, it resembles a deft protective mechanism nearly.

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