Microorganisms produce biologically active natural products, some of which are useful as antibiotics and other medicines. A great demand for new antibiotics exists due to the diversity of pathogens and their mechanisms of drug resistance. Antibiotics were discovered as natural metabolites that enable a microorganism to suppress the growth of a competitor. Although the pace of discovery has slowed dramatically, new approaches to identifying antibiotics show promise for the future. Among many modern approaches to discovery, co-culturing different species and understanding the molecular bases of their interactions is opening new windows to antibiotic discovery. Here we review several examples to illustrate how co-culturing as an approach is producing new insights into the biology of specialized metabolism. Understanding the varied functions of specialized metabolites, combined with use of innovative and advanced analytical tools, indicates that studies of microbial interactions will enhance the discovery of new antibiotics and other natural products.

中文翻译：

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通过微生物相互作用发现抗生素。

微生物产生具有生物活性的天然产物，其中一些可用作抗生素和其他药物。由于病原体的多样性及其耐药机制，对新抗生素的需求很大。发现抗生素是天然代谢产物，能够使微生物抑制竞争者的生长。尽管发现的速度已大大减慢，但是鉴定抗生素的新方法显示了对未来的希望。在许多现代发现方法中，共同培养不同物种并了解其相互作用的分子基础正在为抗生素发现打开新的窗口。在这里，我们回顾几个例子，以说明共同培养作为一种方法如何对专门代谢的生物学产生新的见解。