A German research team has been diving deep in the search of new antibiotics – and believes that sea-born bacteria may hold the key to dozens of new treatments.
They have been searching the world’s oceans for Planctomycetes and have now cultured 31 new species of the organisms, they have reported.
The researchers say they have "extraordinarily complex" lifestyles and the potential to produce new antibiotics.
The project was launched because antibiotic chemicals are often produced by bacteria competing with each other for resources and nutrients.
The researchers at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, are working with colleagues in the Netherlands, the USA and Spain on the project.
Reporting in Nature Microbiology, they say they have identified 31 new genera and 65 new species of Planctomycetes.
Researcher Professor Christian Jogler said: “Hypothesis-driven cultivation and holistic characterisation are essential for discovering something really new and opening up new therapeutic avenues.”
Describing Planctomycetes, Professor Jogler said: “They divide in a very different way from all other important pathogenic bacteria.”
Wiegand S. et al. Cultivation and functional characterization of 79 planctomycetes uncovers their unique biology. Nature Microbiology 18 November 2019
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