Can a fungus from pomegranates fight superbugs?
New Meroterpenoid Derivatives from the Pomegranate-Derived Endophytic Fungus Talaromyces purpureogenus
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists found a fungus growing inside pomegranates and pulled out six chemicals from it. One of those chemicals, called alternariol, was able to kill a tough type of staph infection that doesn't respond to normal antibiotics.
Surprising Findings
Alternariol was more effective against drug-resistant MRSA than regular Staphylococcus aureus.
Usually, antibiotics are less effective against resistant strains—so it’s counterintuitive that a natural compound works better on the tougher version.
Practical Takeaways
Support research into natural product drug discovery by backing citizen science or university crowdfunding campaigns focused on antimicrobial fungi.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists found a fungus growing inside pomegranates and pulled out six chemicals from it. One of those chemicals, called alternariol, was able to kill a tough type of staph infection that doesn't respond to normal antibiotics.
Surprising Findings
Alternariol was more effective against drug-resistant MRSA than regular Staphylococcus aureus.
Usually, antibiotics are less effective against resistant strains—so it’s counterintuitive that a natural compound works better on the tougher version.
Practical Takeaways
Support research into natural product drug discovery by backing citizen science or university crowdfunding campaigns focused on antimicrobial fungi.
Publication
Journal
Molecules
Year
2023
Authors
Alaa Anwar, Mohamed S. Elnaggar, A. Elissawy, N. Ibrahim, A. Mándi, T. Kurtán, Zhen Liu, S. El-Ahmady, R. Kalscheuer
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Claims (4)
Scientists found that a fungus growing inside pomegranate fruit generated six chemical compounds, two of which had never been seen before, using laboratory techniques to separate and identify them.
A chemical compound called alternariol, extracted from a fungus found inside pomegranates, was shown in laboratory tests to inhibit the growth of both regular and antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, with stronger effects on the resistant strain.
Scientists identified two previously unknown chemical compounds from a fungus found inside pomegranate fruit and used computational methods to determine their precise three-dimensional molecular structures.
Six chemical compounds were tested from a fungus called Talaromyces purpureogenus. Only one of them, called compound 5, was able to inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis at a concentration of 100 micromoles per liter. The other five compounds had no measurable effect.