Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Blog

A bacteria present in the mouth – Streptococcus mutans – has been shown to generate the metabolite mutanobactin A by scientists from the US. They found that the metabolite inhibits biofilms formed by the fungal oral pathogen Candida albicans, which causes yeast infections.

In biofilms, pathogens are less susceptible to antibiotics, so this finding could have implications for treating yeast infections.

Fungal biofilm inhibitors from a human oral microbiome-derived bacterium
Xiaoru Wang, Lin Du, Jianlan You,  Jarrod B. King and Robert H. Cichewicz
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB06856G