Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have made a significant discovery that could lead to the development of new antibiotics. They have found that a natural peptide derived from fruit flies, called drosocin, has the ability to bind to bacteria’s ribosomes and hinder protein production. This, in turn, forces bacterial cells to self-destruct.
The findings of this study, published in Nature Chemical Biology, shed light on the antibacterial mechanism of drosocin. The researchers found that drosocin acts by preventing ribosomes from completing their primary function of synthesizing new proteins. By interfering with the translation process, drosocin halts protein production, which is essential for the functioning of cells.
The team at UIC discovered that drosocin specifically inhibits translation termination, a crucial step in protein synthesis. This makes drosocin the second known peptide antibiotic to exhibit this property, with the first being apidaecin found in honeybees, which was also discovered by UIC scientists in 2017.
Lead study author Alexander Mankin, a Distinguished Professor from the Center for Biomolecular Sciences and the department of pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy at UIC, explained the significance of this discovery. He stated, “Drosocin is only the second peptide antibiotic known to stop translation termination. By understanding how these peptides work, we hope to leverage the same mechanism for potential new antibiotics.”
To further investigate drosocin, the UIC researchers produced the fruit fly peptide and its mutants directly in bacterial cells. They found that both drosocin and apidaecin work in similar ways, but their chemical structures and binding mechanisms to the ribosomes differ. This knowledge could be crucial in designing and engineering new antibiotics that combine the best aspects of these peptides.
The study titled “Inhibition of translation termination by the antimicrobial peptide Drosocin” was authored by Kyle Mangano, Dorota Klepacki, Irueosa Ohanmu, Chetana Baliga, Weiping Huang, Alexandra Brakel, Andor Krizsan, Yury S. Polikanov, Ralf Hoffmann, and Nora Vazquez-Laslop. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
This groundbreaking research opens up new possibilities for the development of antibiotics that can combat bacterial infections more effectively. The discovery of drosocin’s antibacterial mechanism provides a valuable foundation for further studies and the potential creation of novel antibiotics. With antibiotic resistance becoming an increasingly urgent global issue, this research offers hope in the ongoing fight against bacterial infections.