Studying Macrolide Formation Paves Way for Novel Antibiotics

Filed in archive Drugs, Vaccines and Therapeutics on September 20, 2006

Scientists are developing a new method of developing antibiotics which may be used against the increasing number of "superbugs" -- pathogens with multiple antibiotic resistance. By studying how enzymes produce antibiotics from precursor molecules, novel antibiotics may be produced. Scientists from the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute and University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy have, for the first time, been able to crystallize an enzyme in the process of closing the antibiotic ring, which illustrates exactly how the ring is formed.

"These findings are likely to enable the development of powerful new methods to build structural diversity into large ring systems that are a key component of many types of macrolide antibiotic molecules. This will provide yet another strategy to stay ahead of the emerging and persistent antibiotic resistance threat," Sherman said.

The researchers believe that bacterial cells may be manipulated such that new antibiotic-candidates may be produced within the cell. The study has been published in Nature Chemical Biology.

Read more from the Univ. of Minnesota News Release.

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