COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have determined how a specific antibiotic halts bacterial growth.
Ohio State University researchers said the antibiotic myxopyronin is a natural substance made by bacteria to fend off other bacteria. Scientists already knew myxopyronin inhibited the actions of an enzyme called RNA polymerase, which sets gene expression in motion and is essential to the life of any cell. But, the researchers said, until now it wasn't known how the antibiotic actually killed the bacteria.
The investigators said they discovered myxopyronin binds to RNA polymerase in a way that interferes with the enzyme's ability to use DNA to start the process of activating genes so they can make proteins.
"This is the first antibiotic we know that inhibits polymerase before it even starts RNA synthesis," said Associate Professor Irina Artsimovitch, a co-author of the study.
The research that included Professor Dmitry Vassylyev, Marina Vassylyeva and Sergiy Klyuyev of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Georgiy Belogurov and Anastasiya Sevostyanova of Ohio State's Department of Microbiology; James Appleman, Alan Xiang, Ricardo Lira and Stephen Webber of Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and Evgeny Nudler of New York University appeared online in last week's edition of the journal Nature.
