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德国科学家最近发现了一种细菌化合物,这种化合物在躲避掠食性阿米巴原虫和杀死真菌方面游刃有余,他们以传奇演员基努·里维斯的名字命名了该化合物,即“基努霉素”。
位于德国耶拿的莱布尼茨天然产物研究和感染生物学研究所(Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology)的古生物技术研究员兼教授皮埃尔·斯塔尔福斯最近在接受《纽约时报》(New York Times)采访时表示:“基努·里维斯扮演了许多标志性的角色,他扮演的杀手干脆直接、招招致命,三下五除二就‘消灭’了敌人。”
“基努霉素对真菌也有同样的效力。”
基努霉素是肽,即短链氨基酸,可以让假单胞菌躲避掠食性阿米巴原虫。今年早些时候发表在《美国化学学会杂志》(Journal of American Chemical Society)上的一篇文章称,除了具有“杀阿米虫”效力外,基努霉素还能够“有效抑制”绣球花(一种原产于日本的开花植物)感染灰霉病菌(灰霉病菌是最具破坏性的真菌病原体之一)。
根据2020年《病原体》(Pathogens)杂志上的一篇文章,灰霉病菌可以在许多农作物中引起灰霉病,每年在全球造成100亿美元至1,000亿美元的生产损失。
该研究的主要作者、德国莱布尼茨研究所古生物技术的博士后塞巴斯蒂安·格策告诉《纽约时报》,基努霉素“在病原体表面形成孔洞,然后病原体就会‘流血’而死”。
“就像基努·里维斯扮演的老练杀手一样,新发现的分子也能够非常有效地在低浓度下通过在不同的人类真菌病原体上形成孔洞来杀死病原体。”
基努霉素的发现对农作物来说是个“救星”。基努霉素对人类来说可能也是福音:新发现的化合物被证明可以有效抑制白色念珠菌(白色念珠菌会导致鹅口疮、阴道酵母菌感染和侵袭性念珠菌病)的生长。
这一发现可能有助于研发新的抗真菌药物——考虑到抗菌素耐药性带来的全球威胁,这是一个可喜的发展。当细菌、病毒、真菌和寄生虫随着时间的推移而不断进化,抗菌素的治疗效果也越来越弱,感染变得越来越难以或不可能治疗时,就会发生抗菌素耐药性,其中包括抗生素耐药性。
在上周末与里维斯在Reddit进行的话题讨论中,他说科学家们应该用他在系列电影中扮演的角色约翰·威克来命名新发现的化合物。威克是一名退役杀手,后来放弃了隐退生活,追踪杀害他的狗和偷他的车的黑帮分子。
“但这很酷。”里维斯写道。“对我来说这很难以置信。不过还是感谢科学家们!祝你们好运,也衷心感谢你们为人类健康做出的贡献。”(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
德国科学家最近发现了一种细菌化合物,这种化合物在躲避掠食性阿米巴原虫和杀死真菌方面游刃有余,他们以传奇演员基努·里维斯的名字命名了该化合物,即“基努霉素”。
位于德国耶拿的莱布尼茨天然产物研究和感染生物学研究所(Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology)的古生物技术研究员兼教授皮埃尔·斯塔尔福斯最近在接受《纽约时报》(New York Times)采访时表示:“基努·里维斯扮演了许多标志性的角色,他扮演的杀手干脆直接、招招致命,三下五除二就‘消灭’了敌人。”
“基努霉素对真菌也有同样的效力。”
基努霉素是肽,即短链氨基酸,可以让假单胞菌躲避掠食性阿米巴原虫。今年早些时候发表在《美国化学学会杂志》(Journal of American Chemical Society)上的一篇文章称,除了具有“杀阿米虫”效力外,基努霉素还能够“有效抑制”绣球花(一种原产于日本的开花植物)感染灰霉病菌(灰霉病菌是最具破坏性的真菌病原体之一)。
根据2020年《病原体》(Pathogens)杂志上的一篇文章,灰霉病菌可以在许多农作物中引起灰霉病,每年在全球造成100亿美元至1,000亿美元的生产损失。
该研究的主要作者、德国莱布尼茨研究所古生物技术的博士后塞巴斯蒂安·格策告诉《纽约时报》,基努霉素“在病原体表面形成孔洞,然后病原体就会‘流血’而死”。
“就像基努·里维斯扮演的老练杀手一样,新发现的分子也能够非常有效地在低浓度下通过在不同的人类真菌病原体上形成孔洞来杀死病原体。”
基努霉素的发现对农作物来说是个“救星”。基努霉素对人类来说可能也是福音:新发现的化合物被证明可以有效抑制白色念珠菌(白色念珠菌会导致鹅口疮、阴道酵母菌感染和侵袭性念珠菌病)的生长。
这一发现可能有助于研发新的抗真菌药物——考虑到抗菌素耐药性带来的全球威胁,这是一个可喜的发展。当细菌、病毒、真菌和寄生虫随着时间的推移而不断进化,抗菌素的治疗效果也越来越弱,感染变得越来越难以或不可能治疗时,就会发生抗菌素耐药性,其中包括抗生素耐药性。
在上周末与里维斯在Reddit进行的话题讨论中,他说科学家们应该用他在系列电影中扮演的角色约翰·威克来命名新发现的化合物。威克是一名退役杀手,后来放弃了隐退生活,追踪杀害他的狗和偷他的车的黑帮分子。
“但这很酷。”里维斯写道。“对我来说这很难以置信。不过还是感谢科学家们!祝你们好运,也衷心感谢你们为人类健康做出的贡献。”(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
Bacterial compounds recently discovered by German scientists were so skilled in evading predatory amoebas and slaughtering enemies that they named them “keanumycins,” after the legendary actor Keanu Reeves.
“Keanu Reeves plays many iconic roles in which he is extremely efficient in ‘inactivating’ his enemies,” Pierre Stallforth, a researcher and a professor of paleobiotechnology at Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena, Germany, recently told the New York Times.
“The keanumycins do the same with fungi.”
Keanumycins are peptides, short chains of amino acids, that allow Pseudomonas bacteria to evade predatory amoebas. In addition to being “amoebicidal,” keanumycins are able to “drastically inhibit” the infection of hydrangea, a flowering plant native to Japan, with Botrytis cinerea, one of the most destructive fungal pathogens, according to an article published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
B. cinerea infects myriad types of crops and causes $10 billion to $100 billion of production loss annually worldwide, according to a 2020 article in Pathogens.
Keanumycins “create holes in the surface of the pathogen, and it ‘bleeds’ to death,” the study’s lead author, Sebastian Götze, a postdoctorate in paleobiotechnology at the Leibniz Institute in Germany, told the Times.
“Like Keanu Reeves in his many roles as a proficient killer, the newly discovered molecules can also very efficiently, at low concentrations, kill different human fungal pathogens, by riddling them with holes.”
The discovery of keanumycins is good news for crops. And it might be good news for humans: The newly discovered compounds were shown to strongly inhibit the growth of Candida albicans, which causes thrush, vaginal yeast infections, and invasive candidiasis in people.
The discovery could lead to the creation of new antifungals for both crops and people—a welcome development given the global threat posed by antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance, which includes antibiotic resistance, occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve over time, becoming less responsive to medicines, making infections increasingly difficult, or impossible, to treat.
In a Reddit thread held with Reeves last weekend, the actor said the scientists should have named the newly discovered compounds after John Wick, a character he plays in a movie series. Wick is a former hit man who exits retirement to track down the gangsters who killed his dog and stole his car.
“But that’s pretty cool,” Reeves wrote. “And surreal for me. But thanks, scientist people! Good luck, and thank you for helping us.”