Lactobacillus bacteria and a vaginal epithelial cell.CDC, JANICE CARR
The microbes that inhabit the human body may be an untapped source of antibiotics and other drug molecules, according to an analysis published last week (September 11) in Cell. A team of researchers has mined data from the Human Microbiome Project for clusters of genes involved in the synthesis of small molecule natural products.
Using a machine-learning approach, the researchers first trained a software program on 732 known gene clusters for the synthesis of natural products. They applied this program to sequence data from the Human Microbiome Project—more than 2,000 genomes from bacteria found at five body sites on 242 people. This yielded a database of 3,118 gene clusters that were widely present in healthy people.
Because the throngs of bacteria in the body engage ...
