A team of researchers from the United Kingdom and Croatia recently published its paper announcing the isolation and discovery of a new species of bacteria that inhibits the growth of ‘superbugs.’ The work isolated bacteria within the Streptomyces genus that thrives in alkaline (highly basic) environments (Terra et al, 2018). This genus is attributed with producing many of the antibiotics that we currently use today, and thus researchers think that there is a treasure trove of more antibiotics within different subspecies. Streptomyces sp. myrophorea, isolate McG1 was isolated from a soil sample in Ireland and was shown to be both extremely tolerant of alkaline environments and able to flourish after exposure to high doses of radiation.
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