ArticleCell2024
Mining human microbiomes reveals an untapped source of peptide antibiotics.
Article in Cell, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed.
- Bridging the gap:Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Mapping the functional dark proteome in cancer.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Review
- Harnessing snake venom cardiotoxins for antimicrobial peptide discovery.npj drug discovery · 2026Article
- Discovery of antimicrobial peptides from incomplete biosynthetic gene clusters to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- From sequence space to ecological function: microbiome-derived antimicrobial peptides as community effectors and therapeutic leads.Essays in biochemistry · 2026Review
- Artificial Intelligence-Driven Antimicrobial Peptide Discovery: Prediction, Generation, Mining and Optimization.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- Marine Antimicrobial Peptides: From Ocean Biodiversity to Genome Mining, Multi-Omics Discovery, and Biotechnological Innovation in the Battle Against Antimicrobial Resistance.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- Discovery of Novel Glycosidase-Derived Cell-Penetrating Peptides Encoded by Human Gut Commensals.ACS synthetic biology · 2026Article
- Investigations of the Evolved Molecular Basis for Terpenoid Biosynthesis in Marine Sponges.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- PEPTiGEN: a tool for mining antimicrobial resistance PEPTides using GENe data of public available repositories.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Encrypted immunity mediated by peptides.PLoS biology · 2026Review
- Addressing antimicrobial resistance: Current challenges, emerging strategies, and an AI-powered, community-driven approach.PNAS nexus · 2026Review
- AllTheBacteria: a community resource empowers biology and discovers novel peptide antibiotics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Integrating host-microbiome multi-omics with machine learning: methods, benchmarks, and translational applications.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Deep learning speeds the search for new antibiotic scaffolds.Nature biotechnology · 2026Article
- Goat gut microbiome as a reservoir for microorganism-encoded short peptides: regulation by host development age and nematode challenge.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- AI-empowered human microbiome research.Gut · 2026Review
- Design of a multimodal synthetic peptide antibiotic derived from human cathelicidin.Cell biomaterials · 2026Article
- The Extreme Environment Microbiome Catalog (EEMC): a global resource for microbial diversity and antimicrobial discovery.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Drosophila melanogaster miPEP8 Regulates Cell Size Through its Interaction With ref(2)P/p62.Molecular & cellular proteomics : MCP · 2026Article
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Drug-resistant bacteria are outpacing traditional antibiotic discovery efforts. Here, we computationally screened 444,054 previously reported putative small protein families from 1,773 human metagenomes for antimicrobial properties, identifying 323 candidates encoded in small open reading frames (smORFs). To test our computational predictions, 78 peptides were synthesized and screened for antimicrobial activity in vitro, with 70.5% displaying antimicrobial activity. As these compounds were different compared with previously reported antimicrobial peptides, we termed them smORF-encoded peptides (SEPs). SEPs killed bacteria by targeting their membrane, synergizing with each other, and modulating gut commensals, indicating a potential role in reconfiguring microbiome communities in addition to counteracting pathogens. The lead candidates were anti-infective in both murine skin abscess and deep thigh infection models. Notably, prevotellin-2 from Prevotella copri presented activity comparable to the commonly used antibiotic polymyxin B. Our report supports the existence of hundreds of antimicrobials in the human microbiome amenable to clinical translation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.