, the team looked closely at streptothricin-F and also streptothricin- D. Streptothricin-D strain was also highly selective for the gram-negative bacteria and was even more powerful than streptothricin-F against drug-resistant Enterobacterales and other bacterial species. However, it caused renal toxicity at a lower dose.
The team used cryo-electron microscopy to show that streptothricin-F bound extensively to a subunit of the bacterial ribosome. This binding causes translation errors in the bacteria, which helps“It works by inhibiting the ability of the organism to produce proteins in a very sneaky way. When a cell makes proteins, they make them off a blueprint or message that tells the cell what amino acids to link together to build the protein.
“We have great collaborators that have allowed us to pursue a project that crosses multiple fields. This work is an example of collaborative science really at its best,” said Kirby.