Newly Discovered Antimicrobial Could Prevent or Treat Cholera

September 11, 2024 • by Marc Airhart

Natural antimicrobials called microcins are produced by bacteria in the gut and show promise in fighting infection.

There are two images side-by-side. In the image on the left, a dark ring separates a blue disk in the middle from a field of grey surrounding the disk. The image on the right is similar, except there is no dark ring.

On the left, a Vibrio cholerae strain that produces the antimicrobial MvcC (center) outcompetes a surrounding V. cholerae strain that does not produce an antidote to the antimicrobial. This creates a zone of exclusion between the two strains (dark ring). On the right, neither strain produces an antimicrobial and so neither has a competitive advantage. Credit: Bryan Davies/University of Texas at Austin.


Share


Three birds are shown. On the left is a blue jay, which is primarily blue with some patches of white on wing tips, around the face and on the chest. On the right is a green jay, which is primarily green with a lighter colored chest and a mix of blue and black patches on the face. In the center is a hybrid bird, which is primarily blue and resembles a blue jay, but with a larger area of black on the face, more akin to a green jay.

Research

So What Should We Call This – a Grue Jay?

Against a backdrop of spinach leaves are old-time news clips with headlines "U.T. Scientists Find New Vitamins in Spinach: Why Popeye Has Big Msucles" and "New 'Life Staff' Found in Spinach" and "Three U.T. Scientists Discover New Vitamin"

UT News

4 Tons of Spinach, 3 Professors and 1 Life-Changing Discovery

A montage of six young people, many in outdoor settings is surrounded by graphics of lines and squares.

UT Biodiversity Center

Announcing the 2025 Stengl-Wyer Scholars, Fellows and Grant Awardees