Drug Discovery for Targeting Drug Resistant Bacteria

Abstract

The alternative approaches for antibacterial drug discovery have a huge potential to develop novel antibacterial agents against multi drug resistant human pathogenic bacteria that are much needed to tackle the urgent threats of multi drug resistant human pathogenic bacteria. We may be able to develop much faster novel antibiotics against multi drug resistant human pathogenic bacteria using these alternative methods than that based on small molecule drug discovery. The alternative methods for antibacterial drug discovery can be used to target new molecules in pathogenic bacteria such as bacterial riboswitches. The combination of novel mechanisms of antibacterial drug action, with novel molecules targets, can result in the development of novel antibiotics against which bacteria have yet not developed any kind of resistance.In this book chapter, we present novel methods for antibacterial drug discovery against antimicrobial resistant bacteria based on alternative strategies for antibacterial drug discovery. These include the application of antisense oligonucleotides as antibacterial agents, fecal microbiota transplantation, and antimicrobial peptides and cell penetrating peptides with antibacterial activity. We also present the main ways of antibiotics misuse that lead to the development of antimicrobial resistance.