Science & Technology

Could pandas help us to tackle superbugs ?

By T.K. Randall
December 31, 2012 ·  10 comments

Image Credit: Fernando Revilla Efforts have been underway for years to save pandas from extinction, with only 1600 of them left in the wild it may not be long before the species survives only in captivity. But now there may be yet another reason to keep these beautiful animals from disappearing - a powerful new antibiotic substance has been found in their blood stream that is very effective at killing bacteria and fungi. Known as cathelicidin-AM, the compound could be the key to developing powerful new antibiotics that can tackle superbugs in humans.

"Under the pressure of increasing microorganisms with drug resistance against conventional antibiotics, there is urgent need to develop new type of antimicrobial agents," said Dr Xiuwen Yan who lead the research. "Gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides play an important role in innate immunity against noxious microorganisms. They cause much less drug resistance of microbes than conventional antibiotics."[!gad]Efforts have been underway for years to save pandas from extinction, with only 1600 of them left in the wild it may not be long before the species survives only in captivity. But now there may be yet another reason to keep these beautiful animals from disappearing - a powerful new antibiotic substance has been found in their blood stream that is very effective at killing bacteria and fungi. Known as cathelicidin-AM, the compound could be the key to developing powerful new antibiotics that can tackle superbugs in humans.

"Under the pressure of increasing microorganisms with drug resistance against conventional antibiotics, there is urgent need to develop new type of antimicrobial agents," said Dr Xiuwen Yan who lead the research. "Gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides play an important role in innate immunity against noxious microorganisms. They cause much less drug resistance of microbes than conventional antibiotics."

Source: Telegraph | Comments (10)

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