Substance in SUGAR that wipes out superbugs dubbed ‘most promising antibiotic candidate in decades’

A toxin found in sugar that wipes out superbugs has been dubbed the ‘most exciting antibiotic candidate’ in decades.

Albicidin is a toxin produced by the plant pathogen that causes the devastating leaf scald disease in sugar cane. Researchers found albicidin was effective against six antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a new laboratory study.

Scientists hope it will give them a new weapon to fight superbugs, which are estimated to contribute to around seven million deaths a year. Experts have warned they should be taken as seriously as global warming.

The antibiotic – called albicidin – is made by the plant pathogen which causes the devastating leaf scald disease in sugar cane, bacterial disease which can ruin crops

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Dr Dmitry Ghilarov, head of the research group examining albicidin at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, said: ‘We believe this is one of the most exciting new antibiotic candidates in many years.

‘It has extremely high effectiveness in small concentrations and is highly potent against pathogenic bacteria – even those resistant to the widely used antibiotics.’

Albicidin is used by the pathogen Xanthomonas albilineans to spread throughout the plant, withering the leaves and rendering crops unusable.

The development of albicidin as an antibiotic has been slow because scientists could not work out exactly how it engaged with its target in plants – the bacterial enzyme DNA gyrase.

Albicidin prevents a process which enables cells to function properly.

Gyrase, a bacterial enzyme, binds to DNA and twists it into a coil in a process called supercoiling, which is crucial for cells to operate.

During supercoiling, the DNA becomes temporarily broken.

Albicidin prevents the rejoining of the DNA by changing shape and effectively blocking the way.

Now scientists have this added structural understanding of how albicidin works, they hope to use it to modify the antibiotic and make it more effective against drug-resistant bacteria.

In the latest study, scientists used a powerful microscope to discover that albicidin takes an L-shape, blocking the gyrase from rejoining the broken DNA, like ‘a spanner thrown between two gears’.

The way albicidin interacts is sufficiently different from existing antibiotics, which will likely work against many of the current antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Through laboratory tests, the scientists found it to be effective against some of the most dangerous bacterial infections often contracted in hospitals, including salmonella, E. coli and pneumonia.

Those three antibiotic-resistant bugs are estimated to kill more than 50,000 Americans every year.

When antibiotics are taken unnecessarily, bacteria can develop the ability to defeat them and gradually become drug-resistant.

Dr Ghilarov said: ‘It seems by the nature of the interaction, albicidin targets a really essential part of the enzyme and it’s hard for bacteria to evolve resistance to that.

‘Now that we have a structural understanding, we can look to further exploit this binding pocket and make more modifications to albicidin to improve its efficacy and pharmacological properties.’

Now the researchers will seek funding for human clinical trials, which they hope will lead to creating a new class of antibiotics. 

The findings were published in the journal Nature Catalysis.

Figures estimate that superbugs will kill 10 million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once-harmless bugs.

Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections, including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world. 

Concerns have repeatedly been raised that medicine will be taken back to the ‘dark ages’ if antibiotics are rendered ineffective in the coming years.

In addition to existing drugs becoming less effective, only one or two new antibiotics have been developed in the last 30 years.

In 2019, the WHO warned antibiotics are ‘running out’ as a report found a ‘serious lack’ of new drugs in the development pipeline.

Without antibiotics, C-sections, cancer treatments and hip replacements will become incredibly ‘risky’, it was said at the time.