Overproduction of albicidin
Albicidin is a strong antibiotic produced by a bacterium that affects sugarcane, Xanthomonas albilineans.
Albicidin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic. In particular, it is highly active against Escherichia coli , a bacterial species involved in certain hospital-acquired "superbugs". CIRAD and the University of Florida have developed a way of biosynthesizing albicidin in a fast-growing bacterium, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria .
Main advantages
- The process enables the production of much greater quantities of albicidin than in Xanthomonas albilineans.
- It will enable the production and purification of sufficient quantities of albicidin to characterize its structure and chemical composition.
- Albicidin yields are optimized.
- The albicidin molecule is a complex polyketide that does not resemble any other antibiotic. Determining its structure will pave the way for a new family of antibiotics.
- Producing large quantities of albicidin will enable an exploration of all the possible applications of this new polyketide.
Intellectual rights
Patented process.
Partnership kind
This process, for producing a broad-spectrum antibiotic, is primarily of interest to the pharmaceuticals industry. CIRAD has the necessary skills to optimize the production system. It is looking for partners interested in promoting the process.