Deadly weapon: frog peptide
An unassuming Australian amphibian may inspire novel synthetic drugs to combat bacterial infections, according to European researchers.
In a paper published in the journal
PNAS, the team – led by the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) – discovered intriguing molecular properties of an antimicrobial peptide that is secreted on the skin of Mjoberg’s toadlet (
Uperoleia mjobergi).
This tiny critter, the size of a dollar coin, is native to the Kimberley region in WA. It received its cute moniker because it looks “toad-like”, despite having no relation to true toads – it’s actually a frog.