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STRUCTURE-BASED ANTIBIOTIC DESIGN

ESKAPE velocity: total synthesis platforms promise to increase the pace and diversity of antibiotic development

Iboxamycin (IBX) is a new oxepanoprolinamide antibiotic based on clindamycin. Crystal structures of IBX in complex with bacterial ribosomes uncover the structural mechanism of its activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens and reveal key interactions with tRNAs and 23S rRNA, including resistance-conferring rRNA methylations.

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Fig. 1: New antibiotic IBX inhibits bacterial protein synthesis and appears to overcome resistance mechanisms.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dunham lab members P. Srinivas and H.A. Nguyen for their comments. Research in the Dunham lab is funded by US National Institutes of Health grants GM093278, AI088025 and GM121650 and by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases Awardee).

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Correspondence to Christine M. Dunham.

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Mattingly, J.M., Dunham, C.M. ESKAPE velocity: total synthesis platforms promise to increase the pace and diversity of antibiotic development. Nat Struct Mol Biol 29, 3–4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-021-00708-0

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