Prof. Zhu Weiming and Prof. Fu Peng’s team has made new progress in the discovery and formation mechanisms of natural products derived from marine actinomycetes. The outcome of the study was published in Nature Communications under the title of “Chimeric natural products derived from medermycin and the nature-inspired construction of their polycyclic skeletons”.

In recent years, antibiotic resistance has become one of the most serious threats to public health. Antibiotics with novel structures and mechanisms constitute an effective strategy to this problem. It has been proved that natural products derived from marine actinomycetes are important sources of new antibiotics.

Focusing on secondary metabolites of marine actinomycetes, the team aimed at theorizing the formation mechanism of complex natural products, thus enabling chemical evolution of natural products and efficient acquisition of analogues. It has laid a solid foundation for marine drug research, enabling the efficient development and utilization of natural drugs.

Translated by Piao Simeng

Edited by Xu Derong, Yu Hong