Molecular Paleontology Meets Drug Discovery: The Case for De-extinct Antimicrobials.

ABSTRACT: The rise of antibiotic resistance has necessitated the exploration of unconventional sources of novel antimicrobial agents. One emerging novel frontier is "de-extinct" moleculesbioactive peptides, antibiotics, and other bioactive agents reconstructed from ancient or extinct organismsan innovative convergence of paleogenomics, paleoproteomics, and synthetic biology. Recent advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing, mass spectrometry, and computational biology have enabled scientists to recover and analyze genetic and protein sequences from long-extinct species, offering unprecedented insights into evolutionary biology and potential applications in medicine, biotechnology, and conservation, including the successful regeneration of antimicrobial molecules from several extinct organisms. Wh

SUBMITTER: Tenchov R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12461407 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature