Chemists from the University of Warwick in the UK and Monash University in Australia have discovered a super potent antibiotic - pre-methomyl C-lactone. Its antibacterial activity against multiple drug-resistant pathogens is more than 100 times higher than that of the known antibiotic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE), especially showing significant bactericidal effects. The relevant results were published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The newly discovered antibiotic was originally just an intermediate compound in the synthesis of the known antibiotic methicillin A. Methenomycin A was discovered as early as 50 years ago, but its synthetic intermediate has never been tested for antibacterial activity. Through genetic manipulation, the research team unexpectedly discovered two previously unknown intermediates with antibacterial activity far exceeding that of methicillin-resistant A. The experiment showed that the activity of pre-methicillin-resistant C lactone against various Gram positive bacteria was 100 times higher than that of methicillin-resistant A, including MRSA and VRE. MRSA is a superbug that is highly resistant to multiple commonly used antibiotics and can easily cause serious infections. VRE can resist the strongest antibiotic vancomycin and is highly susceptible to hospital acquired infections, making it a high-risk pathogen of concern to the World Health Organization. It is worth noting that Enterococcus did not show resistance to pre-methomyl C-lactone in the experiment, while vancomycin induced resistance under the same conditions. This discovery suggests that promycin C-lactone may become a potential new candidate drug for combating VRE infection. With its advantages of simple structure, strong activity, difficulty in developing drug resistance, and ease of synthesis, pre-methomyl C-lactone is expected to become a new generation of antibiotic candidate drugs, bringing new hope to the approximately 1.1 million people who lose their lives each year due to antibiotic resistance. (New Society)