An antibiotic masquerading as a natural compound in the Giant Madeiran Squill

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/uu-aam040320.php

News Release 3-Apr-2020
Uppsala University


A previous study has shown that a type of squill [a plant of the lily family] growing in Madeira produces a chemical compound that may be useful as a medicinal drug. But a new study from researchers at Uppsala University has shown that this is probably not true: instead, the plant had likely accumulated antibiotics from contaminated soil.

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But where did the sulfadiazine come from? While the compound was clearly isolated from within the plant, we know that sulfadiazine is synthetic; that is, produced only by humans. The only reasonable explanation, according to Robertson, is that the drug had contaminated the plant and the surrounding area through polluted fertilizer. Sulfadiazine is widely used within the livestock industry and is known to be spread throughout the environment via animal manure. The compound then builds up within soil and is later accumulated within plants.

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