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Comment
. 2020 May;41(5):297-299.
doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2020.03.002. Epub 2020 Apr 1.

Phylogeny-Guided Approach Yields Glycopeptides with Unique Action

Ana V Cheng  1 , William M Wuest  2
Affiliations
Comment

Phylogeny-Guided Approach Yields Glycopeptides with Unique Action

Ana V Cheng et al. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2020 May.

Abstract

Bacteria are extremely adept at overcoming the effects of antibiotics through a variety of mechanisms. As a result, researchers are constantly searching for antibiotics with new mechanisms of action. Culp and coworkers recently utilized a phylogeny-guided approach to mine the genomes of Actinomycetes species for glycopeptides with novel targets. Their efforts yielded the identification of complestatin and corbomycin as antibiotics with a different target than other glycopeptides.

Keywords: autolysin; biosynthetic gene cluster; glycopeptide; peptidoglycan; phylogeny.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Approach and Findings of the Study.
(A) Schematic of the phylogeny-guided approach to drug discovery. (B) Structures of complestatin and corbomycin. (C) Difference in binding of a common glycopeptide (vancomycin) and the discussed glycopeptides (structures are simplified for clarity). Abbreviation: BCG, biosynthetic gene cluster.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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