Vaginal microbe yields novel antibiotic : Nature News & Comment

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Vaginal microbe yields novel antibiotic : Nature News & Comment

Vaginal microbe yields novel antibiotic

Drug is one of thousands that may be produced by the human microbiome.

• Erika Check Hayden

11 September 2014

BSIP SA / Alamy

The antibiotic lactocillin was isolated from a Lactobacillus bacterium (shown here).

Bacteria living on human bodies contain genes that are likely to code for a vast number of drug-like molecules — including a new antibiotic made by bacteria that live in the vagina, researchers report in this week's issue of Cell¹.