A compound from a barberry bush found on Colorado’s
Western Slope is helping researchers fight antibiotic resistance.
Some bacteria, particularly those that cause staph infections, can
become resistant to antibiotics by pumping the drug out of cells
before it begins to work. Colorado State University professor Frank
Stermitz and Tufts University professor Kim Lewis discovered that
the prickly-leafed Fremont barberry contains methoxyhydnocarpin or
MHC. The compound prevents berberine, a natural antibiotic found in
plants in the Berberis genus, as well as some synthetic antibiotics
from being pumped out of cells. “So, we’ve attacked the means by
which the bacteria becomes resistant to the antibiotic,” Stermitz
says. Extracts from the Oregon grape bush also enhance the potency
of berberine. Stermitz has studied more than 100 other plants in
the western United States to find antidotes for livestock
poisonings. “I’ve been doing research since 1967,” Stermitz says,
“and I’ve found lots of interesting things that may be important
for livestock, but nothing for human health – until now.”
For more information about research at the
Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, call 970/491-6432 or
check out
www.colostate.edu/Depts/AES.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Barberry bush beats bacteria.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
