A natural substance that reliably kills fungi like 'John Wick' is discovered and named 'Kianumycin'
by
Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Products and Infectious Biology (Leibniz-HKI) have discovered a natural antibiotic from a species of bacteria called Pseudomonas . This substance has a strong effect of sterilizing fungi that is harmful to plants, and was named ` ` keanumycin '' after the killer played by Keanu Reeves in the movie `` John Wick ''.
Ecological Niche-Inspired Genome Mining Leads to the Discovery of Crop-Protecting Nonribosomal Lipopeptides Featuring a Transient Amino Acid Building Block | Journal of the American Chemical Society
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c11107
Keanu Reeves, the molecule: New active ingredient from bacteria could protect plants
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-keanu-reeves-molecule-ingredient-bacteria.html
The research team has been studying Pseudomonas bacteria for some time and has found that Pseudomonas is toxic to amoebas that feed on bacteria. While investigating why the genus Pseudomonas causes amoeba to die, a gene that expresses a kind of non-ribosomal lipopeptide was discovered from the genome of the genus Pseudomonas.
There are three types of this ribopeptide, and they are named kianumycin A, kianumycin B, and kianumycin C, respectively. Sebastian Götze, a researcher at Leibniz-HKI and lead author of the paper, said, 'This lipopeptide is so lethal [to amoebas] that we named it 'Keanumycin' after Keanu Reeves. ”, he said.
by Anna Hanks
And the research team thought that this quinumycin might have killing power not only against amoeba but also against fungi. Therefore, when kianumycin was prescribed for hydrangea leaves with gray mold , it was found that kianumycin was effective against Botrytis cinerea, which is the causative agent of gray mold. We also found that quianumycin is biodegradable and does not persist permanently in soil. Keanumycin can be expected to be applied as an 'environmentally friendly pesticide' instead of chemical pesticides.
In addition, it was also found to have a high bactericidal effect against the pathogenic Candida albicans that causes candidiasis in humans. In addition, kianumycin has low toxicity to plant and human cells, and shows high bactericidal activity against fungi even at low concentrations, so it can be said that it is highly safe. The research team believes that quinumycin can also be expected as a candidate for a specific drug against fungal infections such as candidiasis.
Related Posts:
