Abstract
We are currently facing an antimicrobial resistance crisis, which means that a lot of bacterial pathogens have developed resistance to common antibiotics. Hence, novel and innovative solutions are urgently needed to combat resistant human pathogens. A new source of antimicrobial compounds could be bacterial volatiles. Volatiles are ubiquitous produced, chemically divers and playing essential roles in intra- and interspecies interactions like communication and antimicrobial defense. In the last years, an increasing number of studies showed bioactivities of bacterial volatiles, including antibacterial, antifungal and anti-oomycete activities, indicating bacterial volatiles as an exciting source for novel antimicrobial compounds. In this review we introduce the chemical diversity of bacterial volatiles, their antimicrobial activities and methods for testing this activity. Concluding, we discuss the possibility of using antimicrobial volatiles to antagonize the antimicrobial resistance crisis.
Highlights
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In the end of the 1960s around 24 novel classes of antibiotics were introduced to the market [2], but since the 1970s only three classes, namely pseudomonic acids [4,5], oxazolidiones [6] and lipopeptides [7] have been introduced to the market
These are only the main reasons and have already been reviewed in detail [10]. This misuse of antibiotics has led to the development of numerous antibiotic-resistant pathogens resulting in an antimicrobial resistance crisis on a global scale [10,11,12]
Summary
Many would argue that the discovery of antibiotics changed the world of medicine. Penicillin is often reported as the first antibiotic available to the public, whereas it was sulfamidochrysoidine [1,2]. There is the danger that the ignorant man may underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant” [9] In his speech, Fleming indicated the risk of antimicrobial resistance—an issue that we are facing today. Globalization makes the spread of resistant pathogens very easy and the hurdles for (economically driven) pharmaceutical companies are very high These are only the main reasons and have already been reviewed in detail [10]. This misuse of antibiotics has led to the development of numerous antibiotic-resistant pathogens resulting in an antimicrobial resistance crisis on a global scale [10,11,12]. Concluding, we discuss the potential role of volatiles as a novel class of antimicrobials
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