title: Antibiotics and evolution: food for thought.
abstract: The role of secondary metabolites in effecting and modulating reactions during early biochemical evolution has been largely unappreciated. It is possible that low molecular weight effectors were gradually replaced by polypeptides as polymerizing reactions became more complex, but retained some ability to interact with original receptor sites. Indeed, by reviewing the era of antibiotics in this light we can begin to reconcile the ancient and contemporary activities of these molecules. The corollary being that secondary metabolites participate in a vast array of interactions in nature and investigating their intended receptors will be revealing in both pharmacological and evolutionary terms.
authors.affiliation: MetaMixis Biologics Inc., Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Strachan
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. jed@mail.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D056692:Prebiotics; D011485:Protein Binding; D064210:Secondary Metabolism
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D056692:Prebiotics