Bromophene (MC21-A or C58) is a bactericidal antibiotic first isolated from the O-BC30 strain of a marine bacterium, Pseudoalteromonas phenolica. A 2024 study reported that bromophene exhibited antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 2 μg/mL against 39 different isolates. In the same study, bromophene exhibited in vitro antibacterial activity comparable to or greater than that of daptomycin, vancomycin, and linezolid under the conditions tested. Additionally, bromophene eradicated established MRSA biofilms at a concentration of 8 μg/mL in vitro, whereas vancomycin did not achieve partial biofilm eradication at the concentrations evaluated in the same study.Shah KN, Shah PN, Agobe FO, Lovato K, Gao H, Ogun O, Hoffman C, Yabe-Gill M, Chen Q, Sweatt J, Chirra B, Muñoz-Medina R, Farmer DE, Kürti L, Cannon CL. 2024. Antimicrobial activity of a natural compound and analogs against multi-drug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens. Microbiology Spectrum 12:e01515-22. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01515-22
Mechanism of Action The mechanism of action for bromophene has not been fully elucidated. However, previous reports describe increased bacterial membrane permeability without cell lysis.
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