The development of antibiotic resistance is a major cause for concern in the health industry. The rate at which antibiotic resistance is developing is much faster than newer antibiotics are being introduced and if left unchecked may cause potential health crises in the coming years. Soil microorganisms makeup nearly all of the uncultured bacteria, and are a major source for potential new antibiotics. Synthetic antibiotics were unable to reproduce this as resistance developed faster. Teixobactin a new antibiotic isolated from an unknown Gram-negative bacterium that lives in the soil and which cannot be cultured in the lab using known techniques. Researchers fromLewis and Slave Epstein’s lab developed a new and innovative approachcalled iChip that allowed the environmental bacterium to grow and for the antibiotic it produced to be isolated and subsequently identified. Teixobactin inhibits cell wall synthesis by binding to lipid II (precursor of peptidoglycan) and lipid III (precursor of cell wall teichoic acid). Binding of teixobactin to lipid precursors inhibits production of the peptidoglycan layer, leading to lysis of vulnerable bacteria.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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