A New Benefit of Soil?

The overuse of antibiotics and disinfectants have fueled the evolution of bacteria that are resistant to conventional antibiotics. These strains are referred to as "Superbugs".

Besides bacteria, superbugs can be fungi, parasites or viruses that have developed an immunity to the drugs that had killed them in the past.

Scientific American has predicted that by 2050, 300 million people will have died from these super-infections.

A study published in Nature Microbiology reports a study of 2,000 soil samples, researchers from two prominent U.S. universities have uncovered a potential new class of antibiotics found in soil. Their discovery not only highlights the potential for new bacteria-killing drugs.

In the process of discovering a potential new class of antibiotics, researchers from New York’s Rockefeller University and New Jersey's Rutgers University were able to extract, clone and sequence DNA from soil samples. Their objective was to identify any genes able to produce molecules with antibiotic potential. After systematically searching through hundreds of soil samples, they discovered a new antibiotic class called malacidins.

It seems, the researchers say, malacidins may be able to attack and kill many types of superbugs, including the MRSA. After three weeks of exposure, MRSA showed no signs of resistance.

This is not the first time antibiotics have been extracted from soil, but it is the first time scientists have successfully identified a bacterial species with the potential to produce a drug.

A benefit is that since these chemicals occur naturally in soil, they may present less detrimental side effects. It may however take years before malacidins can be developed, tested and approved for use as antibiotics.

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