A Phage-Guided Route to Discovery of Bioactive Rare Actinomycetes

Abstract

The discovery, development and exploitation of antibiotics was one of the most significant advances in medicine in 20th century and in a golden era lasting from 1940s to late 1960s, antibiotic research provided mankind with a wide range of structurally diverse and effective agents to treat microbial infections (Table 1) (McDevitt and Rosenberg, 2001; Hopwood, 2007). However, antibiotic resistance has developed steadily as new agents have been introduced and there has been a dramatic increase in the occurrence of resistant organisms in both community and hospital settings for the past 10-15 years. In particular, pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae and Enterococcus faecalis capable of resulting in severe and fatal infections have become increasingly resistant to multiple antibiotics. In hospital and community environments, Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) have become persistent pathogens. Other multiple drug resistant organisms currently include Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pseudomonas, and related species in the hospital environment. Last line of antibiotics such as vancomycin might also become ineffective against super-bugs such as vancomycinintermediate-resistant S. aureus isolates. New classes of antibiotics with a new mode of action (e.g. LinezolidTM) are necessary to combat existing and emerging infectious diseases deriving from multiple drug resistant agents (McDevitt and Rosenberg, 2001; Hopwood, 2007).