A new study reports on peptide’s antibacterial mechanism. Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered that a peptide derived from fruit flies may pave the way for the development of novel antibiotics. Published in Nature Chemical Biology, their study reveals that the natu
A compound from fruit flies could lead to new antibiotics sciencedaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sciencedaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Research shows that the natural peptide, called drosocin, protects fruit flies from bacterial infections by binding to ribosomes in bacteria. Once bound, drosocin prevents the ribosome from making new proteins.
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IMAGE: An antibiotic (green), bound in the human-like yeast ribosome (gray), allows for synthesis of some proteins (represented in orange, purple, and blue) but not others (dark green). view more
Credit: Maxim Svetlov/UIC
According to researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, the antibiotics used to treat common bacterial infections, like pneumonia and sinusitis, may also be used to treat human diseases, like cancer. Theoretically, at least.
As outlined in a new
Nature Communications study, the UIC College of Pharmacy team has shown in laboratory experiments that eukaryotic ribosomes can be modified to respond to antibiotics in the same way that prokaryotic ribosomes do.