An international team of researchers has developed a new antifungal antibiotic called solanimicin. Phys.org portal. A compound originally isolated from a pathogenic potato bacterium can be produced by a wide range of related phytopathogenic bacteria. with reference to the American Society for Microbiology. The discovery is described in detail in the journal mBio.
pathogenic bacterium Dickeya solani, which causes potato soft rot and produces solanimicin, was first identified over 15 years ago. Previously, microbiologists discovered that D.solani produces an antibiotic called oocidin A, which is highly active against many fungal plant pathogens.
As it turns out, this is not the only antibiotic the bacterium produces. When scientists suppressed the genes responsible for the production of oocidin A, the bacterium continued to show antifungal activity. So the scientists identified solanimicin and identified the cluster of genes encoding the proteins that make up this compound.
The researchers found that the bacterium uses the compound sparingly. For example, solanimicin genes are activated by an acidic environment.
According to the authors of the work, solanimicin acts against a wide range of fungi that infect and damage crops. In laboratory studies, the compound also worked against Candida albicans, a fungus that occurs naturally in the human body but can trigger dangerous infections.