Phylogeny-Guided Approach Yields Glycopeptides with Unique Action

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Ana V Cheng, Emory University; William Wuest, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-05-01
• Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tips.2020.03.002
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: TRENDS IN PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES
• Volume: 41
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: 297
• End Page: 299
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; NATURAL-PRODUCTS; Pharmacology & Pharmacy; DISCOVERY

Abstract

Bacteria are extremely adept at overcoming the effects of antibiotics through a variety of mechanisms. As a result, researchers are constantly searching for antibiotics with new mechanisms of action. Culp and coworkers recently utilized a phylogeny-guided approach to mine the genomes of Actinomycetes species for glycopeptides with novel targets. Their efforts yielded the identification of complestatin and corbomycin as antibiotics with a different target than other glycopeptides.