Genetics May Help Combat ‘Super-Bugs’
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
British scientists have mapped the genetic material of a common soil bacterium in an achievement that could combat the growing problem of “super-bugs”--bacteria resistant to the most powerful antibiotics. The bacterium, Streptomyces coelicolor, and its relatives already produce two-thirds of natural antibiotics such as tetracycline and erythromycin.
But researchers said the sequencing of its genome, announced in the May 9 issue of Nature, could lead to novel types of antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs.
Super-bugs such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureaus are a growing problem worldwide.
