Lariocidin, per Grok:
Lariocidin is a newly discovered antibiotic identified by researchers at McMaster University in Canada, with contributions from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Announced in a study published in Nature on March 26, 2025, it represents the first new class of antibiotics in nearly three decades. This molecule, a lasso peptide, was isolated from Paenibacillus bacteria found in a soil sample from a backyard in Hamilton, Canada. Its unique lasso-like structure—featuring a loop and a threaded tail—sets it apart from other antibiotics.
Lariocidin works by targeting the bacterial ribosome, a critical component of protein synthesis, in a novel way. It binds to a previously untargeted site on the small ribosomal subunit (16S rRNA), disrupting protein production by inhibiting translation elongation and inducing errors in coding. This mechanism makes it effective against a wide range of drug-resistant bacteria, including both Gram-positive pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative ones like Acinetobacter baumannii and Escherichia coli. Notably, it shows promise against multidrug-resistant strains, which are a growing global health threat.
Key features of lariocidin include its low toxicity to human cells, its ability to evade existing antibiotic resistance mechanisms, and its success in animal models, where it reduced bacterial loads and improved survival rates in infected mice. However, because it’s naturally produced by bacteria, significant work remains to modify and scale its production for clinical use. Researchers are currently focused on tweaking its structure to optimize it as a drug candidate. While it’s a breakthrough, lariocidin is still in early development and not yet available as a treatment.
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