Biosynthetic engineering of vibroxin, a novel antibiotic with promising activity against Acinetobacter baumannii

• Applicant: Dr. Fayrouz El Maddah
• Subject Area: Pharmacy
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 429874315

Bacterial natural products and derivatives thereof have been regarded as an invaluable source for many of the commercially available antibiotics, e.g. erythromycin, tetracylines and rifampicin. The proposed project directly addresses the global need for new antibiotics to effectively treat microbial infection and overt the looming health crisis threatened by antibiotic resistant bacteria. The recently characterized novel polyketide vibroxin, from Vibrio rhizosphaerae MSSRF3, exhibits promising antimicrobial activity against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, an opportunistic pathogen and one of the most troublesome hospital-derived (nosocomial) infections. Following successful expression of the vibroxin biosynthetic gene cluster in a heterologous host, the generation of vibroxin analogues via biosynthetic engineering approaches is targeted. The creation of such an analogue library will supply the antibiotic discovery pipeline and further contribute to an understanding of structure-activity relationships (SARs).

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Professor Greg Challis, Ph.D.