1. Running Head: TEIXOBACTIN: NOT A DETERGENT 1
Teixobactin: not a detergent
A.T.H
Polk State College
Author Note
This assignment was written for Principles of Biology 1010C as taught by Professor Orasky.

2. TEIXOBACTIN: NOT A DETERGENT 2
Abstract
The purpose of finding natural antibiotics is to help combat against diseases, whether they are
virulent or not. Since their discovery in the early 1940’s, the dependency of these medicines has
significantly increased as more evidence of known viruses and bacteria now having different
forms of resistance have progressively appeared. Recently, soil bacteria samples were taken from
a field in Maine, resulting with what was originally thought to be a detergent that was later
proven to be an antibiotic. The information provided in this paper is to express the development
of Teixobactin, how scientist were able to determine that it was not a detergent, and the
effectiveness of this antibiotic against infectious diseases when specifically having drug
resistance. A summary regarding the topic will also be provided along with a standard
evaluation. Following will be a detailed criticism about the article and what possibilities may
arise from experimentation on human subjects.

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Teixobactin: not a detergent
Efetheria Terrae, a gram negative bacterium from the aquabacteria family (Ling et al.,
2015, p. 455), was recently found from a grassy plain in Maine with an unidentified molecule
present within its genetic coding. This molecule showed “an unusual depsipeptide which
contains enduracididine, methyl phenylalanine, and four D-amino acids” (Ling et al., 2015, p.
455) or more simply it is made up of a peptide that has one or more ester bonds (Cudic &
Stawikowski, 2007) along with a three enzyme structure primarily used in antibiotics that treat
staph (Burroughs et al., 2013) and with several unique amino acids. Kim Lewis, a
microbiologist, who helped to discover this bacteria expressed concerns as he was afraid that
they had just ‘another boring detergent’ (Servick, 2015), but after close inspection of the
molecule when it was introduced to human cells in a petri dish and did not damage the cells
(Servick, 2015) was what ultimately lead the research team from NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals to
name this new found antibiotic, Teixobactin.
Several experiments conducted to test the production rate and survival rate of Teixobactin
involving petri dishes to animal testing helped to identify it as a cell wall inhibitor and a
peptidoglycan synthesis inhibitor while showing that it had “outperformed vancomycin, a drug
long relied upon to treat…Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by a factor of 100 [in growth rate]”
(Ling et al., 2015, p. 456; Servick, 2015). This meant that Teixobactin had the capability to
penetrate bacteria that was normally drug resistant and was able to kill it if all survival factors for
this antibiotic were met. Yet, even though it proved successful against gram positive bacterial
diseases such as MRSA; staph; and colitis, it was unsuccessful in destroying most gram negative
bacteria like E.coli (Ling et al., 2015, p. 456). This confirmed that the antibiotic was not

4. TEIXOBACTIN: NOT A DETERGENT 4
necessarily a cure all, but that it did have the natural ability to kill infectious diseases that
previously required more than a few antibiotics that were necessary for treatment.
Standard Evaluation
Teixobactin is an antibiotic most recently discovered in January of 2015. It was collected
from uncultured soil samples (Ling et al., 2015, p. 455) containing the bacteria Efetheria Terrae
which had also not been previously identified. An experiment designed to test whether or not
human skin cells with good bacteria would be killed, like with bleach, was performed and proved
to have no ill side effects (Servick 2015; Ling et al., 2015, p. 456). When regarding its effective
range of treating disease, it was found that it only treated or killed gram positive bacteria instead
of gram negative bacteria and “in three different mouse models of bacterial infection, treatment
with teixobactin improved outcomes at levels comparable to antibiotics currently on the market”
(Lau & Stapleton, 2015). It is noted that of these experiments, no signs of resistant mutations in
gram positive bacteria treated with Teixobactin were found (Ling et al., 2015, p. 456), supporting
that this antibiotic is capable of destroying gram positive borne diseases. It was also found that
during “in vitro…teixobactin was effective in inhibiting the growth of many gram-positive
bacteria species, including a number of drug-resistant strains” (Lau & Stapleton, 2015). The
ability to reproduce at an average to above average rate shows promise for the future of using
Teixobactin for treating human beings. Emphases on human trials are still being discussed and
further information regarding Teixobactin has yet to be uncovered.
Criticism on topic
Teixobactin was a fairly recent finding and therefore, details on potential side effects and
sustainability were limited. Yet, it was not long after its first reported animal trail that
researchers found out about Teixobactin’s limitations and it made me wonder why it was that an

5. TEIXOBACTIN: NOT A DETERGENT 5
antibiotic found in gram negative bacteria would only be able to treat gram positive bacterial
diseases. There was not enough information to provide an answer from all of my sources, so I
went searching for it instead. I was able to find a diagram that showed differences between gram
negative and gram positive and the results included that the cell wall of a gram negative was a
thick, two layer walls with a high lipid count while a gram positive was single layered and had a
low lipid count (“Gram Negative,” n.d.). This reminded me that it was found with Teixobactin
that the inhibitor did not react to a protein but to a lipid, thus preventing resistance to build up in
a given bacteria (Ling et al., 2015, p. 456). This information provided me with an answer I did
not know I already had available and I believe that it is a safe to assume that a low lipid count
allows teixobactin to infiltrate and treat known drug resistant, gram positive bacteria instead of
gram negative bacteria that has a higher lipid count.
Details on further testing
Although there has been success with mice and petri dishes, questions of long term
effects and testing on humans has caused difficulties. Only a few months have passed since the
initial finding of teixobactin which is not enough time to measure enough evidence that could
provide accurate data of this antibiotic. Microbiologist Michael Fischbach (Servick, 2015) stated
that he believed “if any bacterium out there makes a substance with even limited activity against
teixobactin, that could be ‘the starting point for evolution [and that to] never underestimate the
wiliness of bacteria’ (Servick, 2015). If that was not enough to worry about, than the question of
whether or not it could interfere with human beings by altering life expectancy or causing illness
that could result in death is still potential. Teixobactin still has a long way, but as mentioned
previously within this research assignment, human experimentation is still being discussed and
there is not enough information left when dealing with this particular example.

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References
Burroughs, M.A., Hoppe, R.W., Goebel, N.C., Sayyed, B.H., Voegtiline, T.J., Schwabacher,
A.W.,…Silvaggi, N.R. (2013). Structural and Functional Characterization of MppR, an
Enduracididine Biosynthetic Enzyme from Streptomyces hygroscopicus: Functional
Diversity in the Acetoacetate Decarboxylase-Like Superfamily. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, National Institute of Health.
doi:10.1021/bi400397k
Cudic, P., & Stawikowski, M. (2007). Depsipeptide synthesis. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, National Institute of Health.
doi:10.1007/978-1-59745-430-8_13
Gram-negative Bacteria vs. Gram-positive Bacteria. (n.d.) Diffen. Retrieved from
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Gram-negative_Bacteria_vs_Gram-positive_Bacteria
Lau, J., & Stapleton, S. (2015). Teixobactin appears to avoid bacteria resistance [PreClinical]. 2
Minute Medicine. Retrieved from
http://www.2minutemedicine.com/teixobactin-appears-avoid-bacteria-resistance-
preclinical/
Ling, L.L., Schneider, T., Peoples, A.J., Spoering, A.L., Engles, I., Conlon, B.P.,…Lewis, K.
(2015). A new antibiotic kills pathogens without detectable resistance. Nature Journal,
517, 388-459.
doi:10.1038/nature14098
Servick, K. (2015). Microbe found in grassy field contains powerful antibiotic. American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
doi:10.1126/science.aaa.6305