Corbomycin


Corbomycin is a member of the glycopeptide family of antibiotics that are produced by soil bacteria.

Mechanism of action

Its mechanism of action is to block the function of the bacterial cell wall by attaching to peptidoglycan. The cell can then not divide/reproduce. Other antibiotics may instead block the formation of the wall.

Applications

It can block infections caused by the drug-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus that cause serious infections. As of 2020 it had not been approved by any regulatory body for human use.

History

The antibiotic was announced in 2020. Researchers found the substance while studying the genes of glycoproteins that lacked resistance mechanisms. Researcher Beth Culp worked with Yves Brun and his team to image the cells to identify the action site. Culp's later team found other antibiotics that employed the same method of action. Complestatin is an existing antibiotic that was shown to use the same mechanism of action.