Researchers in Germany discovered three new compounds so effective in neutralizing fungi that they decided that they could only be given a special name.

Thus, they named these compounds fungicidal. “Keanu Reeves”public recognition by the scientific community of the actor’s ability to neutralize the “bad guys” of films, like the next John Wick and the Matrix.

According to Sebastian Götze, a researcher at the Leibniz Institute in Germany and one of the authors of the study, who was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.a potential cure for fungi appears at a time when organisms become more and more stable in known antifungal drugs.

The researchers found that these “recently discovered” compounds are molecules commonly found in bacteria called lipopeptides– are effective not only against plants, but are also an effective remedy against fungal infections in humans.

“Lipopeptides kill so effectively that we named them after Keanu Reeves, because he too extremely deadly in his rolesThis is stated in the statement Goetze.

“We are in an antimicrobial crisis… Many human pathogenic fungi are now resistant to antifungal drugs, in part because they have taken root in large numbers on farmland,” he explains.

These new antimicrobial compounds, now called “ceanumycins”, are a natural by-product of Pseudomonas, a bacterium traditionally found in soil and water.

The researchers discovered the compounds while studying the effectiveness of Pseudomonas against predatory amoebae.

Scientists knew that “many of these bacterial species (pseudomonas) are highly toxic to bacteria-eating amoebas,” said lead researcher Pierre Stalfort, head of paleobiotechnology at the Lambniz Institute. Therefore, Stalfort and his colleagues wanted to study the effectiveness of these bacteria against fungi, which have a cell structure similar to amoeba.

The compounds are biodegradable and could be an environmentally friendly alternative to pesticides used against fungi on certain fruits and vegetables, according to the study.

Further testing showed that “cyanomycin” is effective against Candida albicans, a fungus that belongs to the normal flora of the human body, but can develop into a serious infection if it recurs.

The newly discovered compounds have not been shown to be particularly harmful or toxic to human cells, which is often seen in the development of antifungal agents, since fungal cells have similar properties to animal cells.

“This study documents another impressive means by which microbes have evolved to compete with and fight other organisms,” Dr. Matt Nelsen, researcher at the Field Museum in Chicago.

According to the study, cyanomycins are “prime candidates for antifungal drug development” and could become a new therapeutic alternative in areas where they are “critically needed”.

Source: CNN