Two Fungal Species Cooperate To Synthesize An Antibiotic Against MRSA - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote]Microbiologists often study microbes in isolation. In the scientific vernacular, this is called "pure culture." While this is necessary to understand how individual microbes work, the trouble with this approach is that microbes do not live by themselves in the natural environment. Instead, they live in communities with multiple other species, cooperating and competing in order to survive. As a result, microbes can behave very differently in the environment compared to the artificial solitude of the laboratory. This insight has helped spur the field of microbial ecology, which studies microbial interactions with each other and the environment. One technique to do is "co-culture." Instead of growing microbes in isolation, they are grown in the presence of other organisms. A team of scientists led by Andrea Stierle from the University of Montana has applied this technique to species of the fungus Penicillium, the same genus that produces the antibiotic penicillin. The researchers discovered that, when grown in co-culture, two different species of the fungus cooperate to synthesize an antibiotic that neither species produces when grown alone. One such molecule had the chemical formula C19H32O7S and was named Berkeleylactone A. The molecule exhibited potent antibiotic activity. Berkeleylactone A could block the growth of several Gram-positive bacteria, like MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) as well as the bacteria that cause strep throat (Streptococcus pyogenes) and anthrax (Bacillus anthracis). In fact, it was better at blocking MRSA than a whole panel of common antibiotics, such as erythromycin, doxycycline, and clindamycin. It was not active, however, against Gram-negative bacteria (such as E. coli).[/quote] SOURCE:[url]http://acsh.org/news/2017/05/01/two-fungal-species-cooperate-synthesize-antibiotic-11215[/url] This is pretty big news if all goes well. Just hope that it does not get overused too quickly and becomes part of the problem it is trying to solve

Wasn't their some Medieval recipe that does the same?

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;52179098]Wasn't their some Medieval recipe that does the same?[/QUOTE] not made of fungus but i think this is what you are thinking of [url]http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/07/anglo-saxon-mrsa/[/url]

Good luck! Here's hoping it doesn't just get added to the laundry list of shit MRSA laughs at.

Bring them to the hospital in my city, it'll be the perfect place to conduct clinical trials due to how fucking horrible that place is at basic patient care.

I wonder if this development will spur more co-culture research. Just slap millions of combinations of bacteria and fungus together and see what you get

[QUOTE=TestECull;52179313]Good luck! Here's hoping it doesn't just get added to the laundry list of shit MRSA laughs at.[/QUOTE] It's pretty much a given that resistance will eventually arise, and also probably by MRSA or another highly resistant strain. It's really a matter of ensuring responsible use of antibiotics, and also managing sources and transmission of the organisms. Hopefully the drug can make it through approval though.