Oz fungi screened for new antibiotics
A microscopic fungi isolated from the dung of native animals - could this provide the next line of antibiotic? (Pic: R Barrow)
Australian fungi that grow on native plants, insects and even kangaroo and wombat dung are being screened in the search for new antibiotics.
Organic chemist Dr Russell Barrow from the Australian National University will present his research at a conference in Brisbane next month.
"We're after antibiotics that will combat the emerging threat of antibiotic resistance," Dr Barrow told ABC Science Online.
"Some time in the late 1960s, it was thought that the 'war against the microbes' had been won and for a long time we've neglected the search for new antibiotics," he said. "Now we're in a situation where we have bacteria that are resistant to everything."
Dr Barrow said that MRSA (Multi-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci) had developed in hospital settings because of the high level of antibiotics used.
"Vancomycin is known as the antibiotic of last resort. There is a fear that MRSA may get resistance genes from VRE and become resistant to Vancomycin as well."
Dr Barrow switched from looking for anti-cancer agents in blue-green algae to looking for antibiotic compounds in native fungi two years ago.
He has collected hundreds of fungi from plants collected from botanical gardens and other sources, and has produced purified extracts of various chemicals contained in the fungi.
Each chemical is then screened to see whether it kills resistant bacteria, and could be developed into a new antibiotic pending other studies including human toxicity tests.
The research has so far been funded with public money however Dr Barrow is now hoping to get commercial funding since he believes he has proved his strategy to be effective.
Dr Barrow has identified 10 chemicals that kill MRSA however intellectual property negotiations prevent him from confirming whether or not the chemicals are also active against the ultra-hardy VRE.
Dr Barrow said any antibiotics derived from the fungi would still be vulnerable to the development of resistance as the current crop of antibiotics are.
"We just need to keep finding new ones," he said.
