LONDON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- German scientists have discovered a novel and natural substance that inhibits the growth of multi-resistant germs, according to the latest report on the website of AlphaGalileo.

    This new substance, which goes by the name MMA, or 7-O-malonyl-macrolactin A, has proven effective against several multi-resistant germs, which is a new hope in the battle against bacterial pathogens resistant to "last line of defense" drugs, the report said.

    The new antibiotic, discovered by scientists at the German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF) in Braunschweig through a research program to explore new microbial diversity for new drugs, is produced by a new strain of the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis, the report quoted GBF scientists as saying.

    The new antibiotic not only inhibits the notorious strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but also vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), both of which cause potentially lethal infections in hospitalized patients, GBF scientists said, adding the antibiotic MMA inhibits cell division by the bacteria, so they are unable to divide and spread.

    GBF scientists see a promising future for the new antibiotic, but they said however it would take a few more years before it is known whether the MMA can find its way into the clinic for human use as the substance needs to be studied more closely, thoroughly tested and ultimately clinically tried. Enditem