Tricks of nature: scientists discover how new antibiotics are created

The loss of effectiveness of antibiotics due to the increasing resistance of pathogenic bacteria is a growing challenge for modern medicine and science. Researchers from the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Tokyo, have succeeded in deciphering the key molecular mechanism by which nature - specifically soil microorganisms - creates antibiotics from the lincosamide group. This research, published in the prestigious journal Nature Chemistry, provides fundamental insights into the natural mechanisms of lincosamide formation that can be used in the design of next-generation antibiotics.