Smelly frogs may be key to fighting antibiotic-resistant infections

[Frog News]

Mongabay News (California, USA) December 1st, 2011 12:23 PM: Smelly frogs may be key to fighting antibiotic-resistant infections

Foul smelling frogs may save lives, according to new research in the Journal of Proteome Research. Examining nine species of Chinese frogs, known as "odorous" frogs for their off-putting smell, researchers have discovered an astounding variety of antimicrobial peptides, or put simply bacteria-killers.

Researchers recorded 728 antimicrobial peptides from the nine species, making these frogs the possessors of the greatest known variety of antibacterial substances on Earth. In fact, the substances on the frogs account for nearly one-third of all known antimicrobial peptides. In addition, ninety percent of the peptides recorded were new.

Frogs have long adapted skins that secrete antibodies due to living in hot, moist places where infections thrive. The amphibians have been instrumental already in creating drugs to fight infections, HIV, and mental illness.

Unfortunately frogs are in the midst of what may well be a mass extinction. Pummeled by deforestation, habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation and climate change, frogs are also combating a deadly fungal disease called chytridiomycosis. Currently the IUCN Red List has found that 41 percent of the world's 7,000 amphibians are threatened with extinction. It's believed that at least 120 amphibians have gone extinct in the last 30 years, and some species likely vanished before they were ever discovered, taking their medicinal potential with them.

Full Article