Antibiotic resistance: 'Snot wars' study yields new class of drugs
A new class of antibiotics has been discovered by analysing the bacterial warfare taking place up people's noses, scientists report. Tests reported in the journal Nature found the resulting drug, lugdunin, could treat superbug infections.
The researchers, at the University of Tubingen in Germany, say the human body is an untapped source of new drugs. The last new class of the drugs to reach patients was discovered in the 1980s. Nearly all antibiotics were discovered in soil bacteria, but the University of Tubingen research team turned to the human body.
Our bodies might not look like a battlefield, but on a microscopic level a struggle for space and food is taking place between rival species of bacteria. One of the weapons they have long been suspected of using is antibiotics. Among the bugs that like to invade the nose is Staphylococcus aureus, including the dreaded superbug strain MRSA. It is found in the noses of 30% of people.
The scientists discovered that people with the rival bug Staphylococcus lugdunensis in their nostrils were less likely to have S. aureus. The German team used various strains of genetically-modified S. lugdunensis to work out the crucial piece of genetic code that allowed it to win the fight to live among your nose hairs.
They eventually pinpointed a single crucial gene that contained the instructions for building a new antibiotic, which they named lugdunin. Tests on mice showed lugdunin could treat superbug infections.
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