Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Hawaii have discovered a potential
Actinomycetes microbes are rarely used assource of new biologically active compounds. Our genomics-based approach allowed us to identify an unusual peptide that could potentially be used for drug development.
Joshua Blodgett, assistant professor of biology, co-author of the new study.
Actinomycetes produce biologically activecomponents that form the basis of many clinically useful drugs, especially antibiotics and anticancer drugs. Since the 1940s, pharmaceutical companies have been analyzing many common actinomycetes to find out what they can produce. Today, about two-thirds of all antibiotics used in hospitals and clinics are partly derived from actinomycetes.
But some of these germs, they are called rareactinomycetes have been cataloged but not well understood. These actinomycetes tend to be harder to find in nature than others and may grow more slowly, Blodgett said.
Blodgett and his collaborators, including co-authorShugeng Kao of the University of Hawaii found that this rare actinomycete produces molecules that are active against certain types of ovarian cancer - fibrosarcoma, prostate cancer and leukemia cell lines.
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