Hyderabad varsity researchers discover antibiotic-producing bacterium

A novel bacteria that can potentially produce an antibiotic has been found by researchers of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) led by Ch Venkata Ramana.

The bacterium, Planctopirus hydrillae was spotted in the Buffalo Lake on the sprawling campus of the University. Researchers believe that it can provide a solution to the problem of diseases becoming resistant to a majority of known antibiotics in the market globally.

In a paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of Antibiotics, Venkata Ramana and researchers said the bacteria also has the ability to clean up ammonia waste, a growing environmental concern.

The genome of the bacterium has been sequenced by the research team which includes researchers from the Bacterial Discovery Laboratory, Centre for Environment, Institute of Science and Technology, JNTU, Hyderabad.

The bacterium was isolated from the aquatic plant Hydrilla. Venkata Ramana, who is the Head, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences said “The new species is a very uncommon bacterium belonging to the phylum Planctomycetes and was isolated from the university campus”.

Ammonia waste

“This is the first report of an antibiotic producing bacterium from the phylum Planctomycetes. Cultivating the bacteria of this phylum is extremely difficult and we are the first group from India to develop the art of cultivating these bacteria which are very useful even for environmental issues particularly for the treatment of ammonia waste. These bacteria are called as “Anamox (Anaerobic ammonia oxidising) bacteria”, he explained in the paper.

With disease-causing germs failing to respond to even the most potent antibiotics, scientists have been vigorously pursuing the development of new class of drugs to overcome the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. There have been repeated concerns on the dwindling number of potent antibiotics to tackle the growing number of viral and bacterial diseases and their changing nature.

In this background the find by the UoH assumes considerable significance. The antibiotic producing Planctomycete may help in the development of a new drug, the researchers felt.

The Plant Sciences lab has been working on discovery of new bacteria and novel biomolecules, which are useful for human, animal and environmental health. Antibiotics are one such important biomolecules which it is targeting from anaerobic bacteria and from uncommon bacteria. This is because most pathogens are becoming resistant to the most common antibiotics produced by many known and common microorganisms,” said Venkata Ramana, who is a Tata Innovative Fellowship awardee.

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