Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Nosopharm, a biotechnology company based in Lyon, France, identified a new class of antibiotics.The antibiotic, first identified by Nosopharm, is unique and promising on two fronts: its unconventional source and its distinct way of killing bacteria, both of which suggest the compound may be effective at treating drug-resistant or hard-to-treat bacterial infections. Called odilorhabdins, or ODLs, the antibiotics are produced by symbiotic bacteria found in soil-dwelling nematode worms that colonize insects for food.
The bacteria help to kill the insect and, importantly, secrete the antibiotic to keep competing bacteria away. Until now, these nematode-associated bacteria and the antibiotics they make have been largely understudied.To identify the antibiotic, the Nosopharm research team screened 80 cultured strains of the bacteria…
