At this year’s Leibniz Conference on Bioactive Compounds 2026 in Aachen, the peptide pyrofactin has been selected as Leibniz Drug of the Year 2026 yesterday. A research team from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena has discovered this molecule and deciphered its key role in a previously unknown bacterial early warning and defense system.

New drugs do not arise solely in the test tube. They often originate from natural products that microorganisms produce in interaction with their environment. However, the functions these molecules fulfill in their natural context are still poorly understood. The award-winning research, conducted within the Cluster of Excellence ?Balance of the MicroverseExternal link?, demonstrates how rewarding this shift in perspective can be. Instead of focusing solely on the pharmaceutical potential of natural products, the team investigated their role within complex microbial communities.

Innovative approach reveals previously unknown natural product

The awarded study focuses on the interaction between the widespread bacterium Pseudomonas syringae and the predatory amoeba Polysphondylium pallidum. The researchers showed that the bacterium uses a chemical ?radar? to detect and specifically eliminate these predators. This process relies on a sophisticated chemical signaling cascade: The bacterium produces the natural product syringafactin and releases it into its surroundings. When this molecule encounters the amoeba, it is chemically modified. The bacterium, in turn, possesses a dedicated sensor protein that recognizes these modified molecules as a warning signal and activates targeted defense mechanisms. As a result, the bacterium produces a second natural product: pyrofactin, a compound that is lethal to the amoebae.

The team led by Pierre Stallforth, professor at the University of Jena and deputy director of Leibniz-HKI, succeeded in elucidating this previously unknown mechanism and identifying pyrofactin as a promising new chemical structure. This discovery is more than an isolated finding. It exemplifies an innovative research approach that specifically investigates the dynamics of natural products—their transformation and function within interactions between different organisms—to uncover previously hidden compounds. Such substances could serve as the basis for new medicines or find applications in crop protection.

New opportunities for drug discovery

?The dynamics of natural products hold enormous, as yet largely untapped potential for the discovery of new bioactive compounds. This is precisely where new opportunities for drug discovery lie,? says Stallforth, who accepted the award in Aachen on behalf of his team.