Scientists Find Manikomycin in 75-Year-Studied Bacterium, Cutting Resistant Klebsiella 1,000-Fold
Updated
Updated · studyfinds.com · Jun 11
Scientists Find Manikomycin in 75-Year-Studied Bacterium, Cutting Resistant Klebsiella 1,000-Fold
3 articles · Updated · studyfinds.com · Jun 11
Summary
Manikomycin emerged from Streptomyces rimosus, a soil bacterium studied since 1950, after improved separation methods uncovered a previously hidden antibiotic family in a 255-strain library.
Cryo-EM showed the compound binds the bacterial ribosome’s E-site—a target no approved antibiotic had reached—helping it evade existing resistance mechanisms and showing about 15-fold weaker activity in mammalian cell-free tests.
In lab tests, manikomycin worked against E. coli and multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, cutting Klebsiella counts roughly 1,000-fold in infected human blood and lifting worm survival to 55%-60% from 10%-30%.
Mouse studies exposed the main obstacle: the drug was mostly cleared within about 36 minutes and showed no infection benefit, prompting work on analogues to improve how long it stays in the body.
Published in Nature, the finding suggests even well-studied microbes may still hide new antibiotics, though manikomycin remains far from human use and appears active mainly against a narrower set of bacteria.