Thursday, May 18, 2006

Platensimycin

The Guardian has a story about this new class of antibiotic, which may be effective against antibiotic resistant bacteria. Platensimycin was discovered at Merck in New Jersey, and is derived from Streptomyces platensis. It inhibits an enzyme called FabF, which is involved in forming fatty acids in bacterial cells.

The original report is in Nature and if you are a University member on a CFS computer, you can access it here. There is also an editorial, which talks about some of the obstacles that need to be surmounted before this substance can become a prescribable (I may have invented this word) drug.

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