Amphibian antidote

WITH drug-resistant microbes increasingby the day, researchers at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, arelooking at frogs for developing powerful antibiotics. Tests have indicated thatcompounds derived from the poisonoussecretion of African tree frogs, Africanmarsh frogs and other amphibians cankill even the most harmful drug-resistant bacteria. Researchers found thatwhen these frogs kill their naturalpredators, the poisonous compoundsdo not kill cells other than those of thespecific bacterial strains they attack.

"Current antibiotics are mostlyderived from fungi and bacteria. Butthese new compounds are made not bysimple organisms, but by vertebrateslike ourselves and they do not seem tohave many harmful side-effects. Theycan hit their targets very accurately,"says Chris Shaw, director of the drugdiscovery unit at QLfeen's University.Another source of pow Ierful antibioticscould be starfish. Scientists are studying how starfish regrow severed armswithout getting infected. Researchersfrom Appalachian State University inNorth Carolina, us, have identified 10new infection-fighting bacterial speciesin the starfish known as brittle star.