Will Komodo Dragons Yield the Next Blockbuster Antibiotic?

The giant lizards have numerous microbicidal compounds in their blood.

Written byJef Akst

| 5 min read

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DRAGON PROBLEMS: A Komodo dragon fitted with a GPS tracking device stalks an injured Timor deer in the shallows fringing the Komodo Archipelago in Eastern Indonesia.PLOS ONE, 5:e11097, 2010; PHOTO BY ACHMAD ARIEFIANDY

With the world facing an anti-biotic-resistance crisis, the hunt is on for alternatives to fight bacterial infection. The quest has led peptide chemist Barney Bishop and bacteriologist Monique van Hoek, both at George Mason University in Virginia, to look for antimicrobial peptides in an unexpected place: inside the Komodo dragon.

“Natural antimicrobial peptides are found pervasively in life on this planet,” Bishop says. “It’s one of the most primitive immune systems; even bacteria use antimicrobial peptides against other bacteria.”

Animals that live in “microbially challenging environments,” could be expected to harbor numerous and varied antimicrobial peptides, says van Hoek. Alligators, for example, live in swamps teeming with microbes and regularly sustain injuries from other gators. The distantly related Komodo dragon has been thought to harbor ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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