Proteins in Insect Brains Kill Bacteria

After new studies of cockroach and locust brain, doctors are hoping to use a protein in insect brains to make an antibiotic to treat diseases including E coli and nvasive MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Doctors say they found a powerful chemical inside cockroach brains as well as those of locusts, that can be used as a powerful medicine, possibly combating diseases like E. coli that antibiotics have never been able to counteract well.

Said one scientist ""Insects often live in unsanitary and unhygienic environments where they encounter many different types of bacteria. It is therefore logical that they have developed ways of protecting themselves against micro-organisms."

Proteins in Insect Brains Kill Bacteria
businessweek

Certain nsect brains may be a source of new medicine and antibiotics capable of killing deadly drug-resistant bacteria, according to research into drugs that suggests the germ-spreading pests may be good for something after all. Insects such as cockroaches have a defense mechanism against bacteria, a "logical" development from living in unhygienic conditions, research from the U.K.'s University of Nottingham showed. Tissues from the brains and nervous systems of cockroaches and locusts killed more than 90 percent of MRSA and E. coli without damaging human cells, scientists said.

Proteins in Insect Brains Kill Bacteria