Integrating omics technologies for natural product antibiotic discovery

Antibiotic discovery from natural sources is beset by the re-isolation of known compounds and the difficulties

in working with wild-type strains. Demuris and TGAC will transform this approach and use genome sequencing

to identify and dereplicate known antibiotic gene clusters from a set of high value actinomycete strains that

produce broad-spectrum antibiotics though presently unknown. Known and novel gene clusters will be

identified bioinformatically and software developed to allow the integration data facilitating cluster

prioritisation. To confirm the bioinformatic predictions the masses of the most promising novel antibiotics will

be identifed and the gene clusters cloned and heterologously expressed using an optimised host. This "data

first" based approach promises to reinvigorate the natural products sector, and this is desperately needed if

new and novel antibiotics are to be developed.