Unearthing antibiotics

With antibiotic discovery coming back into vogue, two groups have literally gone to ground to find new compounds produced by bacteria in the soil. Using designed-for-purpose screening systems, the teams identified two unknown antimicrobial peptides - teixobactin and lysocin E - that act at new membrane targets and have the potential to induce little or no resistance. But given the poor safety record for peptide antibiotics, the new approaches and targets might end up upstaging the compounds themselves in terms of importance for the field.

Teixobactin was discovered by researchers at Northeastern University in collaboration with NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals LLC. Lysocin E was identified by a group at the University of Tokyo. Both teams are seeking partners to help advance the compounds to the clinic...