A antibiotic that doesn’t hurt the gut microbiome

Researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have discovered a new antibiotic, Lolamicin, that selectively kills pathogenic bacteria over non-pathogenic bacteria based on differences in Lol proteins between these bacteria. Lolamicin is derived from a compound named DS86760016, which is an inhibitor of the leucyl-tRNA synthetase, a mechanism by which Gram-negative bacteria become drug-resistant.