A newly discovered natural antibiotic, teixobactin, could be effective in treating bacterial lung conditions such as tuberculosis and those commonly associated with COVID-19, according to the new study. As bacteria evolve, they develop strategies that undermine antibiotics and morph into “superbugs” that can resist most available treatments and cause potentially lethal infections. The new work could pave the way for a new generation of treatments for particularly stubborn superbugs. A team of researchers Professor Kim Lewis of Northeastern University led discovered Teixobactin in Boston in 2015. His company is now developing it as a human therapeutic. The new research in mSystems is the first to explain how teixobactin works in relation to the superbug Staphylococcus aureus—also known as MRSA. MRSA is among bacteria responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans, particularly post-viral secondary bacterial infections such as COVID-19 chest infections and influenza. The researchers synthesized an aspect of teixobactin to produce a compound …