Soil-born antibiotic hits a novel ribosome site to tackle resistant bacteria

Researchers from the U.S., Canada, and Germany identify manikomycin, a naturally produced peptide antibiotic from the soil bacterium Streptomyces rimosus, that binds a previously untargeted site on bacterial ribosomes and kills difficult strains like Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae; while promising due to its novel mode of action, it does not affect many Gram-positive bacteria and metabolizes quickly in the body, meaning it’s not yet a drug and will require optimization before clinical use.