New Class of Antibiotics Kills Bacteria in Minutes

Biologists and bioengineers working in the field of making antibiotics-resistant infections a thing of the past have scored a major breakthrough recently, when they have managed to develop a synthetic DNA binding compound. The substance is able to combine with the DNA of pathogens such as bacteria and kills them within two minutes, several hundred times faster than any existing antibiotic on the market today. Behind the innovation are experts from the University of Warwick Department of Chemistry.

The compounds were originally discovered at Warwick by Professors Mike Hannon and Alison Rodger, but Hannon has since moved to the University of Birmingham. At the beginning, the substance was not designed specifically to fulfill the role of an antibiotic, but UW researchers have not taken an active interest in it on account of those traits.

“This research will assist the design of new compounds that can attack bacteria in a highly effective way, which gets around the methods bacteria have developed to resist our current antibacterial drugs. As this antibiotic compound operates by targeting DNA, it should avoid all current resistance mechanisms of multi-resistant bacteria such as MRSA,” UW expert Dr. Adair Richards explains.

“We were surprised at how quickly this compound killed bacteria and these results make this compound a key lead compound for researchers working on the development of novel antibiotics to target drug resistant bacteria,” Rodger, who is a professor of Biophysical Chemistry at the university, adds.

The new compound is called [Fe2L3]4+, and is, in essence, an iron triple helicate structure, featuring two iron centers. Because of its shape, it can fit neatly in the grooves of a DNA helix, causing the target to fold on itself and lose the ability to bind to anything else. Basically, this means that organisms such as bacteria can no longer infect new tissue, and are annihilated in the ones they've already infected as well.

In experiments conducted thus far with the new compound, researchers used Bacillus subtilis and E. coli as tests, and found that [Fe2L3]4+ destroyed each of their cells within two minutes. However, the concentrations required for this type of effect are very large, and the researchers now have to look for other ways of using this substance. They have to do it in a manner that would ensure no harm comes to the patients it's used on, PhysOrg reports.