Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to Develop New Antibiotics Using Polar Organisms...125 Billion KRW Invested Over 5 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 6th that it will develop a new antibiotic that suppresses super bacteria using genetic resources from polar organisms.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to invest approximately 12.5 billion KRW over five years from this year to 2024 (2.5 billion KRW this year) to develop new antibiotic candidate substances utilizing genetic resources from polar organisms. This research involves the Korea Polar Research Institute, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, universities (Sun Moon University, Ewha Womans University, Chung-Ang University, Chungnam National University, Pukyong National University), and private pharmaceutical companies.

With the emergence of super bacteria resistant to existing antibiotics, countries worldwide have been striving to find new natural antibiotic substances. However, only substances with structures identical or similar to existing antibiotics have been discovered, and no antibiotic substance effective against super bacteria has yet been developed.

Accordingly, the Korea Polar Research Institute conducted preliminary research for two years from 2018 to explore possibilities in the polar regions and revealed that cold-adapted enzymes from polar fungi have substrate flexibility. The institute confirmed the potential for developing new antibiotic candidate substances through structural modification of existing antibiotics using this finding.

The polar regions are characterized by harsh cold and a unique environment where daylight lasts for six months and night for the other six months each year. Polar organisms have undergone various evolutionary processes to adapt to these conditions, resulting in distinctive genetic traits.

This year, the focus will be on analyzing the structure and function of cold-adapted enzymes and exploring new polar microorganisms that produce antibiotics, aiming to file domestic patents for new antibiotic production technologies by 2022.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.