Discovery of New Antimicrobial Natural Products from Aquatic-Derived Bacteria

For many years, the discovery of antibiotics primarily relied on natural products. However, the rise of antimicrobial resistance has rendered many previously effective antibiotics useless. Moreover, efforts to find new antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action have largely been unsuccessful, as antimicrobial resistance is now developing at much higher rates than before. There is an urgent need for new natural products that can effectively target pathogenic bacteria using different mechanisms. In this report, we present the discovery of a new natural product that selectively targets Streptococcus pyogenes, a known human pathogen. Although the exact mechanism of action is not fully understood, our research suggests that it specifically targets the Rgg2 quorum sensing system within S. pyogenes. Additionally, this compound is classified as an anti-persister molecule, which have gained attention in recent years for their ability to eradicate bacteria in dormant states—something that many current antibiotics struggle to achieve. Additionally, we present the screening of a natural product library new antimalarial agents, and report the discovery of a family of cyclic peptides as potential leads. Similar to bacteria, malaria has been reported to show significant resistance for several years now, indicating a pressing need for new drugs to combat this antimalarial resistance. These studies highlight the ongoing effectiveness of bioactivity-guided fractionation in discovering new drug leads.