Arsinothricin

Arsinothricin is a naturally occurring organoarsenical antibiotic produced by the rhizosphere bacterium Burkholderia gladioli. Structurally, it is a non-proteinogenic amino acid analog of glutamate, in which the γ-carboxyl group is replaced by a methylarsenate moiety. Arsinothricin acts as a broad-spectrum antibiotic effective against a variety of bacterial pathogens, including multidrug-resistant species, through competitive inhibition of bacterial glutamine synthetase. Unlike many arsenic compounds that are highly toxic due to their trivalent state, arsinothricin is unusual as a pentavalent arsenical, displaying antibiotic activity with a novel mechanism of action.