The new antibiotics come from a pathogenic bacterium in potatoes

• Most antibiotic compounds are derived from soil microorganisms

  
  

• Researchers have discovered a new antifungal antibiotic, solanimycin

  
  

• Solamycin is produced

  
  

• Solamycin and its related compounds may help treat human and plant pathogenic fungi

  
  

• Plant-related bacteria are a potential source of antibiotics that can be used clinically and agronologically

  
  

The growing threat of antimicrobial resistance has prompted researchers to search everywhere for new compounds

According to the researchers, soramycin fights a wide range of fungi that are known to infect and destroy crops

Soil microorganisms, especially those from actinomycetes, produce most of the therapeutic antibiotics

"We have to look at more microbial populations

Matilla said: "These strains appeared very quickly and now they are widely distributed

Matilla said these previous findings, combined with an analysis of the bacterial genome, suggest it may synthesize more antibiotics that also have antifungal potential

The researchers found that the bacteria rarely use the compound, but instead produce it based on cell density

"We believe this is an antifungal drug that kills the fungi of its competitors, and the bacteria benefit a lot

Matilla said: "The focus of our future work is to try to use this antifungal antibiotic to protect plants

Matilla said: "We have to explore everything to find new antibiotics