The War against MDR Pathogens:Move Fungi to the Frontline

Abstract

The evolution and spread of resistance among pathogenic microbes to different antibiotics currently in use is a global health problem. Attempts are being made to tackle this major health burden by involving policy makers, scientists, healthcare professionals, the general public and industry. Several strategies, including improvement of prescribing practices, use of combination therapies and synthetic antibiotics, and development of species-specific antibiotics have been suggested to retard the evolution of drug resistance. However, most of the new antibiotic molecules which are being prepared to be marketed are only modifications of existing ones, thus lacking novelty in their mechanism of action or target sites. It is reasonable to expect that the introduction of totally new antibiotics would delay the evolution of drug resistance. In this context, the filamentous fungi are a promising source of novel antibiotics. Their diverse biochemical pathways, the range of ecological niches they occupy, and that 8% or less of the 2.2–3.8 million estimated fungal species are known, underscore the now urgent need to screen them for novel antibiotics.