@InvaderXan It's produced by the bacteria I work with (Streptomyces). They also produce this when growing in incubators. Much nicer to work with than smelly E. coli or Bacillus. 😀

@kblin It must be so nice to work with fragrant bacteria! 😬

@InvaderXan To be fair, we work with them because they're great sources many interesting molecules that we're hoping to turn into new antibiotics. ~70 % of the antibiotics in use today originate from Streptomyces bacteria or close relatives. The nice smell is welcome, but a side effect. 😉

@kblin Oh interesting! Looking to find things which won't be affected by the impending antibiotic crisis, I take it? I didn't realise so many of them originated in so few actual organisms.

@InvaderXan Antibiotics and resistance will always be an arms race. Microorganisms have been playing this game forever, long before humans discovered antibiotics. But yes, we're trying to find something that works against some of the most dangerous multi-resistant bacteria, to keep up our side of the game.

@kblin Oh of course. I guess it's a sad fact that simply by developing new medicines we're breeding bacteria to resist them.

@InvaderXan You can find ancient bacterial samples (from permafrost soil and the like) that are resistant against antibiotics. As I said, bacteria have been playing the chemical warfare game for quite a while now. We're probably accelerating the resistance formation by using an antibiotic, that's true. But IMHO the cause of the upcoming crisis is that we declared victory in the 70s and stopped a lot of the R&D.

@kblin Do you think overuse of certain antibiotics is a factor too? Or is that a myth?

@InvaderXan It certainly is a factor, because it increases the selection pressure on the bad bacteria to become resistant. But resistance itself has always been there. Simply put, the soil bacteria that produce the antibiotic need to be resistant against it, or they'd be committing suicide. It's just that that kind of resistance doesn't matter because in general soil bacteria don't try to eat you.

@InvaderXan But of course e.g. taking an antibiotic if you've got a flu or other viral infection will suddenly make it very relevant for bacteria that live on or inside you to learn how to survive the antibiotic.