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tonymmorley OP t1_irybed4 wrote

"Antifungal compound helping disease-causing bacteria thrive may treat humans and plants, too." Cosmos, October 11th, 2022, Root Source here: New Antifungal Antibiotic

For 99% of our history as a species, we have been disproportionally outgunned in our war against the microbes, and desperately ignorant. And while we have made enormous progress in beating the microbes into submission, antibiotic resistance remains an ongoing challenge, particularly in livestock.

While it's early days for discoveries like this, some of which may take decades to reach the market, it shows that our improving mastery of genome sequencing is generating tangible innovation with future potential.

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OmarLittleFinger t1_iryf8d7 wrote

So in addition to this we’ve discovered I think 2 other things recently.

  1. Led lights that produce UV that won’t hurt people
  2. Phages to kill bacteria

I think there was a third, but I’m tired.

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NotEnoughHoes t1_irz0vpc wrote

Copper alloys being used on surfaces to naturally repel bacteria is a huge one.

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CloudPeels t1_irzout5 wrote

If I could build a house, all knobs are brass

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The_Darkprofit t1_irzxkrk wrote

I do have a house with all brass doorknobs, had them since 1880s. Don’t mistake time passing for progress.

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WhatIsntByNow t1_is0oxbz wrote

Yeah but were they put in for antimicrobial properties or just because humans have always liked shiny things.

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Abhi-shakes t1_irzw54z wrote

Indians drink water in copper utensils because we are taught that it helps with digestion. In my home every one has their own copper water bottle instead of a plastic one.

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PloxtTY t1_irzwfcj wrote

I’m gonna try using hollowed out potato water bottles

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treemu t1_irzwt8o wrote

Po'a'o wo'o'bo'ols?

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Abhi-shakes t1_irzy4yt wrote

you can try, better line it with copper wires for extra affect.

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tacofiller t1_is01830 wrote

Might end up accidentally making a potato battery and shocking their mouth.

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penmonicus t1_is0d04j wrote

Wouldn’t that ensure the bacteria stay in the water instead of landing on the drink bottle walls?

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TheSonar t1_is0g0tm wrote

You don't need to build the house lol. You can just replace the door knobs with brass ones. In fact you could do this right now, in a rental. When your lease is up, switch back in the old door knobs and take the brass door knobs with you.

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crypticedge t1_is0dfg6 wrote

We've known this one for a while. Copper and silver are great surfaces with antimicrobial properties.

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Xw5838 t1_irzvafi wrote

That's literally been known for thousands of years by most of the world though. It's just Europeans & Americans that have denied it because they're traditionally slow on the uptake for historically simple medical solutions and also they'd rather use stainless steel on surfaces because it's cheaper.

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Loyal-to-Earth t1_is1rpz0 wrote

In the Balkans, it is traditional to drink from copper vessels for water and coffee. Also in the same region, archeologists have discovered copper used at jewelry, and in burial rituals for thousands of years.

Now I don't know enough about use of copper in Native American culture, but they did use silver, which has antibacterial properties.

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DiceStrike t1_is0rpii wrote

Oil and big Pharma changed all that in the late 1800’s early 1900’s .. most people don’t even know spearmint can repel spiders from homes. Now it’s these products that are recommended etc etc instead of the natural approach while trying to save our climate. Lol

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DrBabbage t1_irz4vog wrote

  1. Its relatively easy to make UV Leds that don't hurt people (UVA) while it is very hard to make LEDs that can do UVC to kill germs or fuck up your skin or retina. There are some LEDs http://www.cel.com/pdf/press/cel_uvc-leds_03262019.pdf but the output is low and they are expensive and inefficient CFL is much better at that job.

  2. Phage therapy is ancient. The soviets experimented a lot with that. It was phased out by antibiotics.

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Glodraph t1_is05d2l wrote

UVA can penetrate the skin up to the derma which is not ideal. UVB are the ones that stop in the epidermis.

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CloudPeels t1_irzp0tt wrote

Recall phages used as antibiotic used for long time. Eastern Europe/Georgia think still use or at least during postdocs of colleagues?

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cguess t1_irzqpup wrote

They're interesting but incredibly specific. Most antibiotics are gram positive or gram negative targeting and petty much nukes everything in that spectrum. It's easier and cheaper than engineering viruses for a specific bacterium.

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[deleted] t1_is0bw1u wrote

[deleted]

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cguess t1_is0z93s wrote

depends on the bacteria. Phages can absolutely be useful, but they're not going to replace broad-spectrum antibiotics for instance.

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Suthek t1_irzov7w wrote

So originally we got Penicillin as an anti-bacterial compound from mold (fungus) and now we got an anti-fungal compound from bacteria.

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seraphaye t1_iryho5q wrote

I need all the help I can get both my body and my garden, I'm down for this

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NeroBoBero t1_irymhy5 wrote

If only my Irish Ancestors could have seen the day when diseased potatoes saved lives.

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ExperientialTruth t1_is0aflg wrote

How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irishman? Zero

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MoveCarsMotherfucker t1_is0akth wrote

Name something more Irish than potatoes, no potatoes.

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ExperientialTruth t1_is0axev wrote

I told the joke above at my buddy's 50th bday party-slash-roast. His burly 100% Irish-American dad who can trace his family to a tiny Hamlet in the Irish country was not amused. Burly as in, motherfucker worked in Northeastern steel mills, was built like an ox, nearly ripped my arm out of its socket when he shook my hand first time I'd met him. And yet he charmed people with his ever present "what's new in your bailiwick?" RIP JIM, an imperfect man but unforgettable.

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TheDratter t1_is0k1s7 wrote

This is almost the strangest place you could've chosen to write an obituary for your friend's dad, but sometimes it feels good to be strange. Condolences to your homeboy and his family.

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blauw67 t1_irzr2v8 wrote

That's not an antibiotic, that's a fungicide, which you know, is still amazing news, just the wrong word for it. But I guess it gives the discovery the hype it deserves.

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doommaster t1_is01zhn wrote

It is more of a general biozide that vertebrates seem to cope quite well with, yeah.
Less of a specific antibiotic or fungizide.

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IntensifiedChesnuts t1_irz4fdu wrote

“new antifungal antibiotic called solanimycin”

Antibiotics =/= antifungals

This is the kind of sloppy science writing that leads to a quarter of the population being anti-vax.

There a ton of other problems with this article too.

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weedlayer t1_is0r953 wrote

This is true, but also stupid. Antibiotics should be called "antibacterial", while the term antibiotic should apply to all antimicrobials.

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IntensifiedChesnuts t1_is1te0z wrote

Yeah… and we shouldn’t drive on parkways, and park on driveways…

This is how the scientific community defines the term, and we need to use a consensus-based common language if we’re going to understand each other. Unfortunately we don’t get to change words or their definitions because we don’t feel like them.

You’re going to have to accept that this is how our community understands this word or change everyone’s mind.

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iceyed913 t1_irycbpd wrote

Shit, so we nuke the bacteria with the fungi and then we nuke the fungi with the bacteria... Time for some selective breeding using competitive species ? 🤨

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[deleted] t1_iryb5wv wrote

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.02472-22

>new antifungal compound, solanimycin, produced by a hybrid polyketide/nonribosomal peptide (PKS/NRPS) system in Dickeya solani,the enterobacterial pathogen of potato. Solanimycin was active against abroad range of plant-pathogenic fungi of global economic concern andthe human pathogen Candida albicans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_albicans#Role_in_disease

>Candida is found worldwide but most commonly compromises immunocompromised individuals diagnosed with serious diseases such as HIV and cancer. Candida are ranked as one of the most common groups of organisms that cause hospital-acquired infections. Especially high-risk individuals are patients that have recently undergone surgery, a transplant or are in the Intensive Care Units (ICU),[75] C. albicans infections is the top source of fungal infections in critically ill or otherwise immuncompromised patients.[76]

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[deleted] t1_iryyyrc wrote

[deleted]

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[deleted] t1_irz5dji wrote

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.03081/full

>Despite exhibiting less virulence than C. albicans isolates, recent findings suggest that C. auris fails to activate the innate immune response and production of NETs by human neutrophils, what certainly may play a role in the high mortality associated to this infection.

Yeah, fun stuff. Juuuust lower enough to slip under the radar. Clearly someone is playing Plague Inc here.

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StChello t1_iryk9ti wrote

Sooo, will sitting in a bath of moldy potatoes treat a yeast infection?

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that1cooldude t1_irypk7o wrote

Well, that’s the last time we’ll ever hear of this.

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mastersheeef t1_irz68y6 wrote

bout time! i have my big toe nail that has fungus and needs haaallllpppp!

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[deleted] t1_is07kkd wrote

[deleted]

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DurinsBane1 t1_is08a0g wrote

Oil did nothing, it cleared up on its own.

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Probably_a_Shitpost t1_is0e5fp wrote

Some people don't believe they have an immune system

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[deleted] t1_is0hqow wrote

[deleted]

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Probably_a_Shitpost t1_is0i92c wrote

Sorry to hear that. You'll have to forgive me, but with the whole pandemic and people saying that their miracle cures cured COVID in about 9 days when it would have cleared for any normal person in that time leaves me skeptical of everyone touting a treatment. I apologize

0

Capt_Dex t1_irz9mb4 wrote

So the old wives tale of rubbing a potato on a wart had some ground after all

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Down_The_Rabbithole t1_is02f8e wrote

No because warts are caused by Viruses, not bacteria. Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria.

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ObiWanCanShowMe t1_is0fwm2 wrote

>old wives tale

Virtually none of those are true. (neither is that one)

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WineSoda t1_irygruc wrote

I wish people understood the power of flora. They are the reason humans exist on Earth. They get no shelter, no protection from fire or cold, some have zero protection against being eaten, and we have houseplants that live longer than humans.

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spinjinn t1_irzdaoe wrote

So why are the potatoes diseased if they harbor this compound?

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DamonFields t1_irzglpj wrote

Who will be the first to wear diseased potatoes on their feet?

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wellforthebird t1_irzl22v wrote

Ok. But when the fungal infection mutates and gets stronger than the antibiotics found in diseased potatos. What do we do then? For plants and humans? I feel bad that plants got roped into the new death fungus.

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no_self_control22 t1_irzle3e wrote

So that lil black part on my French fry is potentially making me a superhuman? Noice

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thechinovnik t1_irzpx0b wrote

I recently read somewhere that all forms of cancer contain some fungal matter and that anti-fungals could be used to treat cancer in the future!

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Jacobtheeddit t1_irzu9eq wrote

We understand how the universe works, but still the human body, not that much. Best machinery of all.

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jugalator t1_is04b9z wrote

Now watch us overexploit that one so that we breed resistant bacteria and lose our potatoes too other than a specific bioengineered kind from Nestlé...

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KJ6BWB t1_is0d0e6 wrote

Can it save the banana?

My previous comment saying that was too short, so here's more. The banana is threatened globally by a fungal infection. If we have a new antifungal treatment, could it help save the banana?

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Virtual-Structure447 t1_is0wsdb wrote

PO-TA-TOES

Boil 'em

Mash 'em

Stick em in a stew.

Dissect the diseased ones and BOOM

New antibiotic for you.

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FuturologyBot t1_iryfkpq wrote

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

"Antifungal compound helping disease-causing bacteria thrive may treat humans and plants, too." Cosmos, October 11th, 2022, Root Source here: New Antifungal Antibiotic

For 99% of our history as a species, we have been disproportionally outgunned in our war against the microbes, and desperately ignorant. And while we have made enormous progress in beating the microbes into submission, antibiotic resistance remains an ongoing challenge, particularly in livestock.

While it's early days for discoveries like this, some of which may take decades to reach the market, it shows that our improving mastery of genome sequencing is generating tangible innovation with future potential.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/y1n4aw/new_antibiotic_hiding_in_diseased_potatoes/irybed4/

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Seeking_Happy1989 t1_irz4d0s wrote

Wow! I wonder if it might deal with antibiotic resistant diseases. Would it be effective with STDs or even AIDS or certain types of cancer?

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rnavstar t1_is0ho32 wrote

Nope, this is for bacteria not viruses, and cancer isn’t a virus or bacteria.

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Libra8 t1_is05xyq wrote

Nice if it worked on nail fungus. That stuff is tough to get rid of.

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Lil_Mafk t1_is060xb wrote

So is it an antibiotic or an anti fungal? If I include potatoes in my garden beds, will it prevent fungal microbes from infecting nearby plants?

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plantmom363 t1_is0bejc wrote

thank god with climate change we need all the help we can get against resistant strains of fungal infections

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LolcatP t1_is0fapg wrote

will this save those bananas that keep dying due to fungal infection?

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waterloograd t1_is0ra33 wrote

So is this an antibiotic or an antifungal? Or both? They use both terms as if they are the same thing

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Embarrassed-Strike53 t1_is16x7x wrote

So it is an anti fungal or an antibiotic?

Because they are not the same thing and using them interchangeably makes the author sound like a moron…

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LessHorn t1_irzlmct wrote

Quote from the article: “But you don’t turn it on unless you’re in a potato.”

🥔

🌈🤞🏻

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djuking t1_irzqgj0 wrote

Hope they make it fast enough to stop a "Last of Us" kind of scenario

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[deleted] t1_irynhvy wrote

[deleted]

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UB007 t1_iryz53u wrote

Lol, poor soul has his mind completely warped by whats fed to him.

0