lomofungin

Lomofungin is a natural phenazine antibiotic originally discovered in Streptomyces lomondensis. It exhibits broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi and yeasts. Lomofungin acts by inhibiting DNA-dependent RNA polymerases, thereby blocking RNA synthesis via direct interaction with the polymerase, not the nucleic acid template or substrates. Its actions are not limited to prokaryotes: lomofungin also shows biological effects in eukaryotic systems, including inhibition of MBNL1-(CUG)n RNA binding and enzymatic inhibition of ADAM17 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease implicated in pathological cleavage of MICA in cancer cells). Lomofungin is cytotoxic at higher concentrations due to its potent inhibition of transcription and translation. No major pharmaceutical company markets lomofungin as a clinical drug; its main relevance is as a tool compound in biochemical and biological research[1][2][3][4].