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German scientists have given the name keanumycins to a group of bacterial compounds, based on their fungus-killing powers. The name is a nod to Canadian action star Keanu Reeves, whose newest badass movie, John Wick 4, opens in cinemas on March 24.
Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena, Germany, were working with antimicrobial nonribosomal lipopeptides, or NRLPs. “These natural products are powerful pest control agents protecting plants from the devastating fungal phytopathogen botrytis cinerea, and their anti-mycotic properties make them good lead structure candidates for the development of anti-fungal drugs,” they said in their report.
But more to the point: “The new NRLPs are so efficient at killing different microbial species that we named them keanumycins in tribute to the actor Keanu Reeves, who played many iconic killers in his cinematic career.”
Reeves already has several MTV movie awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2019 his name was used as the title of a song by U.S. rapper Logic, and in 2021 he was named “number one martial arts movie star in the world” by Tae Kwon Do Life Magazine. His character John Wick, first introduced in 2014, is an assassin so dangerous he once killed three men with a pencil.
Reeves responded to the news several days ago during an “ask me anything” appearance on the web site Reddit. When a user told him the news and asked for his thoughts he replied: “… Hi, thank you … they should’ve called it John Wick … but that’s pretty cool … and surreal for me. But thanks, scientist people! Good luck, and thank you for helping us.”
His use of the term “scientist people” had users on the site pointing out that, while the bacterial compound might be named after John Wick, Reeves’ response was pure Theodore “Ted” Logan, the character he played in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and several sequels, most recently 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music.
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