Nearly all the antibiotics used to stop bacterial infections are
natural compounds that come from microbes themselves. For example,
penicillin is derived from a fungus, while vancomycin, the
antibiotic used when bacteria are resistant to many other drugs,
comes from a bacterium. Furthermore, although many antibiotics are
chemically synthesized to resemble natural antibiotics, the
“models” for them are natural products of microbes themselves.

As more bacteria become resistant to traditional antibiotics,
alternative drugs must be found. Recently, scientists discovered a
completely new type of antibiotic that comes from Hydra, pictured
above, a small freshwater creature famous for regenerating itself
when its tissues are severed. While investigating defensive
mechanisms on the skin of hydras in 2008, scientists at the
University of Keil in Germany came across a protein that is active
against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Most
importantly, it works against some drug-resistant strains of
bacteria. They named this protein hydramacin.

–           Can you
imagine why microbes produce chemicals that are inhibitory to other
microbes?

–           What
enables a new drug to be effective against bacteria that are able
to resist old drugs?

–           How do
you suppose the scientists figured out that the compound in Hydra
acts against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria?