Skoltech researchers Dmitrii Travin, Dmitry Sutormin, Svetlana Dubiley and Konstantin Severinov co-authored a preprint “The antibiotic phazolicin displays a dual mode of uptake in Gram-negative bacteria” that has been recently released at bioRxiv. Using genetic and biochemical techniques, the scientists phazolicin (PHZ) identified BacA and YejABEF as two importers of PHZ in a sensitive model strain Sinorhizobium meliloti Sm1021. PHZ is a peptide antibiotic exhibiting narrow-spectrum activity against rhizobia closely related to its producer Rhizobium sp. Pop5. The authors of the paper show thst the uptake of PHZ by two distinct families of transporters dramatically decreases the naturally occurring rate of resistance. Since these transporters are also crucial in S. meliloti for its symbiotic association with host plants, their inactivation in biological settings is highly unlikely. This makes PHZ an attractive lead for the development of a biocontrol agent with potential for use in agriculture. Full text of the preprint is available here.