Latest weapons against antibiotic resistance - Platypus milk

Not only does it look strange - the fur and the duckling, scientists have discovered that milk containing protein has antibacterial properties that can help create drugs to fight antibiotic resistance.

The platypus is really a strange creature. They are one of the last surviving egg mammals. Their hind legs are poisonous. And hairy leaf body combined with speculum? They seem to belong to the evolutionary error scene.

And now a strange biological feature of them is interesting to scientists: platypus milk contains a unique protein that can help us resist antibiotic resistance.

For nearly 70 years, antibiotics have been a popular treatment for many diseases, from gonorrhea to pneumonia. The more antibiotics we use, the higher the antibiotic resistance of these bacteria, leading to a number of 'viruses' that do not respond to many antibiotics.

Platypus milk contains antibacterial properties.

The simple fact is that millions of lives are in danger every year in the United States alone. In 2016, the United Nations raised this issue to 'crisis level'. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called it 'a major, long-term threat to human health, sustainable food production, and development'.

Scientists are increasingly creative in finding ways that can help humanity resist antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In 2010, they discovered that platypus milk contained antibacterial properties.

Unlike other mammals, providing milk to the baby through the nipple, platypus 'sweats' milk, lactation through the skin on the abdomen for the baby to drink. That makes the platypus much exposed to the outside world, which may explain why platypus needs antibacterial properties.

To find out exactly what makes platypus so, a team of researchers from the Australian Federal Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Deakin University have recreated one of the the number of proteins in milk in the laboratory.

When observing this protein structure more closely, they were surprised to see something completely unique. Three-dimensional folds make the protein look like a curl. So the researchers named this protein 'Shirley Temple', referring to the actress's curly hair.

Researchers believe that this unique structure can help create new drugs to lower the virus. They are looking for collaborators to help them do more research with the intention of rapidly developing new antibiotics.