New York, May 31 (IANS): Researchers have successfully engineered the bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) to produce improved version of popular antibiotics -- including three that show promise in fighting drug-resistant bacteria.

The researchers have harnessed E. coli to create 40 new forms of the popular antibiotic erythromycin that have a slightly different structure from existing versions.

"We are focused on trying to come up with new antibiotics that can overcome antibiotic resistance, and we see this as an important step forward," said lead researcher Blaine Pfeifer, associate professor at University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the US.

"We have not only created new analogs of erythromycin, but also developed a platform for using E. coli to produce the drug," he said.

This opens the door for additional engineering possibilities in the future; it could lead to even more new forms of the drug, Pfeifer said.

Erythromycin is used to treat a variety of illnesses, from pneumonia and whooping cough to skin and urinary tract infections.

While news reports often focus on the dangers of E. coli, most types of this bacteria are actually harmless, including those used by Pfeifer's team in the lab.

Over the past 11 years, Pfeifer's research has focused on manipulating E. coli so that the organism produces all of the materials necessary for creating erythromycin.

"The system we have created is surprisingly flexible, and that is one of the great things about it," Pfeifer said.

The study was published in the journal Science Advances.