New drugs from bugs: Awakening dormant biosynthesis
With antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on the rise, there is an urgent need to discover new, effective antibiotics. Dr Jeremy Owen from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington aims to combat this problem using the hidden potential within bacteria
Published on 2 Whiringa-ā-rangi November 2023
The emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens is a global threat to human health. As established antibiotics become less effective, there is a growing need to discover new alternatives. The most promising avenue for antibiotic discovery is in nature – numerous bacteria, fungi and plants produce antibiotics that have been co-opted for human use. However, most antibiotic-encoding genes are expressed only under specific circumstances and are usually “dormant”. How can we identify and isolate the antibiotics produced by dormant gene clusters?
Dr Owen and his team have been awarded a Marsden Fund Standard grant to delve into this untapped potential. They will use state-of-the-art computational methods to scan bacterial genomes and identify gene clusters that are likely to produce new natural products. They will then use modern DNA technologies to try and “activate” the expression of these gene clusters, either in the host bacterium or by moving the cluster into a different bacterial species. Expressed natural products will then be collected and assayed for potential antibiotic activity.
This research has the potential to discover new antibiotics that are effective against drug-resistant pathogens. More generally, the techniques used here might also facilitate faster and easier discovery of new drugs going forward, giving us an advantage in the race against drug-resistance.
Dr Jeremy Owen (photo: supplied)