Fungal duo from toxic lake produces novel antibiotic

Abstract

Two species of fungi isolated from an abandoned mining pit in Montana, when cultured together, produce a compound that kills four antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (J. Nat. Prod. 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.7b00133). Although its structure resembles a known class of antibiotics, the compound appears to kill bacteria in a new way, the researchers say. After companies suspended copper mining at the Berkeley Pit outside Butte, Mont., in 1983, runoff and groundwater collected in the pit and created a lake. Oxidized rock exposed by mining acidified the water to pH 2.5, and heavy metals including iron, copper, arsenic, and cadmium leached into the water. Also in 1983, it was designated a Superfund site. The water is so toxic that last winter, several thousand snow geese died after waiting out a snowstorm in the pit during their annual migration. Microbial life, however, finds the pit more hospitable. For almost 20 years,