Hiramatsu K, Igarashi M, Morimoto Y, Baba T, Umekita M, Akamatsu Y. Curing bacteria of antibiotic resistance: reverse antibiotics, a novel class of antibiotics in nature.
Int J Antimicrob Agents 2012;
39:478-85. [PMID:
22534508 DOI:
10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2012.02.007]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2012] [Accepted: 02/15/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
By screening cultures of soil bacteria, we re-discovered an old antibiotic (nybomycin) as an antibiotic with a novel feature. Nybomycin is active against quinolone-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains with mutated gyrA genes but not against those with intact gyrA genes against which quinolone antibiotics are effective. Nybomycin-resistant mutant strains were generated from a quinolone-resistant, nybomycin-susceptible, vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) strain Mu 50. The mutants, occurring at an extremely low rate (<1 × 10(-11)/generation), were found to have their gyrA genes back-mutated and to have lost quinolone resistance. Here we describe nybomycin as the first member of a novel class of antibiotics designated 'reverse antibiotics'.
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