Corbomycin is a member of the

glycopeptide Glycopeptides are peptides that contain carbohydrate moieties (glycans) covalently attached to the side chains of the amino acid residues that constitute the peptide. Over the past few decades it has been recognised that glycans on cell surfac ...

family of

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

that are produced by soil bacteria.

Mechanism of action

Corbomycin blocks

autolysin Autolysins are endogenous lytic enzymes that break down the peptidoglycan components of biological cells which enables the separation of daughter cells following cell division. They are involved in cell growth, cell wall metabolism, cell division a ...

s by attaching to the

peptidoglycan Peptidoglycan or murein is a unique large macromolecule, a polysaccharide, consisting of sugars and amino acids that forms a mesh-like peptidoglycan layer outside the plasma membrane, the rigid cell wall (murein sacculus) characteristic of most ...

cell wall A cell wall is a structural layer surrounding some types of cells, just outside the cell membrane. It can be tough, flexible, and sometimes rigid. It provides the cell with both structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mech ...

. As a result, the bacterium cannot divide, as division requires the wall to be broken down and remodeled. Ordinary glycopeptides instead block cell wall formation.

Applications

It can block infections caused by the drug-resistant strain of ''

Staphylococcus aureus ''Staphylococcus aureus'' is a Gram-positive spherically shaped bacterium, a member of the Bacillota, and is a usual member of the microbiota of the body, frequently found in the upper respiratory tract and on the skin. It is often positive ...

'' that cause serious infections. As of 2020 it had not been approved by any regulatory body for human use.

History

The antibiotic was discovered in 2020. Researchers found the substance while studying the biosynthetic genes of glycopeptides that lacked self-resistance mechanisms. Researcher Beth Culp worked with Yves Brun and his team to image the cells to identify the action site. Culp's later team found other antibiotics that employed the same method of action. Complestatin is an existing antibiotic that was shown to use the same mechanism of action.

References

Glycopeptide antibiotics {{Antibiotic-stub