AI resurrects molecules from extinct creatures to create antibiotics

The resistance to antibiotics represents a public health problem. Scientists now use cutting-edge technologies for resurrect molecules from extinct creatures like the mammoth, offering a promising avenue to combat this challenge. New study shows deep learning can extract proteins from extinct organisms.

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The study, led by César de la Fuente from the University of Pennsylvaniais published in Nature Biomedical Engineering. De la Fuente explained in his X account that the discovery driven by artificial intelligence (AI) has identified tens of thousands of Potential antibiotics in extinct organisms.

The molecular de-extinction, that seeks to resurrect molecules to solve problems current biologicals, has discovered the first therapeutic molecules in extinct organisms. According to De la Fuente, his lab has launched the field of molecular de-extinction, demonstrating that resurrecting molecules from the past can help resolve antibiotic resistance.

The University of Pennsylvania team used deep learning to extract proteomes of extinct organisms. They developed a new AI model called APEXwho has discovered numerous antibiotic compounds in creatures of the past, such as the woolly mammoth. This model is the result of several years of work based on sequencing methods of ancient genetic material.

Researchers trained deep learning models to predict activity antimicrobial, extracting more than 10 million peptides. Of these, 37 thousand showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, and 11 thousand were not found in existing organisms.

In experiments with mice, synthesized 69 peptides and confirmed their activity against bacterial pathogens. The main compounds, such as mammothusin-2 of the woolly mammoth, showed anti-infective activity in mice with skin abscesses. This innovative approach promises to accelerate the discovery of new antibiotics, concluding that molecular de-extinction, aided by AI, can revolutionize the search for antimicrobial therapies.