IRKUTSK, April 15. / TASS/. Scientists from Russia's Siberian Irkutsk State University (ISU) and their German colleagues have jointly discovered a strain of actinobacteria producing earlier unknown antibiotics.

The biologists have determined that the new compounds are able to fight E. coli and the fungus causing thrush, and have high chances to be able to fight cancer cells, ISU press-center said Friday.

The ISU scientists have been searching for new strains of actinobacteria in Siberian caves since 2014. The new discovery was found in Bolshaya Oreshnaya cave 130 km from Krasnoyarsk. 

We separated 10 new strains from the cave lake and the substance called “moonmilk.” We tested them all and chose one of them for a more profound investigation. This strain appeared to be able to produce more than 120 compounds, 100 of which are unknown to science, said Denis Aksyonov-Gribanov, senior researcher from Biology research institute at ISU.

The task for the scientists now is to identify all the compounds, investigate their activity and define what they are active against.

“According to the experts, the compounds of this strain are very likely to have anti-cancer and insecticidal activity,” ISU said.