Streptomyces – the smell of life

The Mall in Central Park, New York City in late autumn on a rainy day   Did you know that humans can detect the smell of wet soil 200,000 times better than sharks sense blood? [1] It appears our olfactory abilities are not that bad after all, at least when it comes to finding potential sources of food. Petrichor, the term to describe the scent was coined in 1964, by scientists I. Bear and R.G. Thomas, meaning “petros” – stone and “ichor” – the blood of the gods [2] in Greek. Divine or not, Streptomyces is a genus of over 800 bacterial species and subspecies responsible for the earthy smell of Autumn we know and love. But could it be that our innate senses are drawn to wet dirt for more reasons than farming?    Could eating dirt cure the plague? That is yet to be tested, but Streptomyces are certainly fit for more purposes than poetic walks after the rain. They are the most important source of antibiotics [3]. What is an antibiotic? By definition, it is a substance produced by one organism that is capable of inhibiting the growth or destroying other organisms  – a direct translation from Greek would be ‘anti-life’. In nature, this yields Streptomyces a competitive advantage. Astonishingly, they are responsible for nearly two-thirds of natural antibiotics [4]. For instance, Streptomyces griseus produces Streptomycin, the first antibiotic against tuberculosis, and a drug of choice against the agent of Plague Yersinia p...
Source: GIDEON blog - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Epidemiology Microbiology News Source Type: blogs