ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES

1 FUNGUS-FARMING ANTS

Leafcutter ants keep fungi gardens. They cut leaves to feed to the fungi, which will in turn feed the ants’ larvae. This fungi ‘ farming’ attracts lots of unwanted microbes, but the ants combat the bugs with antimicrobials produced by

Actinomycete bacteria that grow on their own bodies – a potential source of new drugs being studied at the University of East Anglia. Most antibiotics used today come from the same group of bacteria.

2 CATFISH MUCUS

The striped dwarf catfish, found in Asian estuaries, may look unremarkable, but it secretes an antibiotic-filled mucus from its skin. Actually, many fish produce mucus that’s rich in antimicrobials, because it helps protect them from disease. However, Indian researchers found that slime from the catfish was particularly potent against bugs that infect humans, including Pseudomonas

aeruginosa, which causes pneumonia.

3 THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Scientists from the University of Illinois, Chicago, are searching in places that until recently remained unexplored for antibiotics. They plunge their test tubes into Iceland’s hot springs and the muck at the bottom of freshwater lakes, to look for bacteria that produce novel compounds. They’ve already found bacteria in Lake Michigan that produce antibiotics capable of killing the tuberculosis bug.