Scientists are looking to an unusual source for new medicines: Komodo dragons. Doctors use antibiotics to wipe out bacteria that make people ill. But some strains of bacteria have become resistant to these medicines, so they’re no longer effective. The dragons’ blood could hold the key to creating new bacteria-fighting medications.
In the wild, Komodo dragons are exposed to dangerous bacteria. To learn how they survive, researchers isolated molecules called peptides from the dragons’ blood. The scientists re-created the peptides in a lab and tested them on bacteria that are resistant to many antibiotics.
The lab-made peptides were a success. “One attacks the harmful bacteria and also helps heal wounds,” says Barney Bishop, a biochemist at George Mason University in Virginia who helped lead the project. He hopes dragon peptides can be used to develop new treatments to fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs.