Generation Of Antimicrobials Research Articles

Quorum-quenching microbial infections: mechanisms and implications

The discovery of antibiotics early in the past century marked the beginning of active control and prevention of infectious microbial diseases. However, extensive use of antibiotics has also unavoidably resulted in the emergence of ‘superbugs’ that resist conventional antibiotics. The finding that many pathogens rely on cell-to-cell communication mechanisms, known as quorum sensing, to synchronize microbial activities essential for infection and survival in the host suggests a promising disease control strategy, i.e. quenching microbial quorum sensing or in short, quorum quenching. Work over the past few years has demonstrated that quorum-quenching mechanisms are widely conserved in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. These naturally occurring quorum-quenching mechanisms appear to play important roles in microbe–microbe and pathogen–host interactions and have been used, or served as lead compounds, in developing and formulating a new generation of antimicrobials. Characterization of the crystal structures of several types of quorum-quenching enzymes has provided valuable information to elucidate the catalytic mechanisms, as well as clues for future protein tailoring and molecular improvement. The discovery of quorum-sensing signal degradation enzymes in mammalian species represents a new milestone in quorum sensing and quorum quenching research. The finding highlights the importance of investigating their roles in host innate defence against infectious diseases and to determine the factors influencing their in vivo concentrations and catalytic activities.

Antibacterial peptides for therapeutic use: obstacles and realistic outlook

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are produced by almost all species of life as a component of their immediate non-specific defense against infections. The assets of these peptides in clinical application include their potential for broad-spectrum activity, rapid bactericidal activity and low propensity for resistance development, whereas possible disadvantages include their high cost, limited stability (especially when composed of L-amino acids), and unknown toxicology and pharmacokinetics. Initial barriers to their success are being increasingly overcome with the development of stable, more cost-effective and potent broad-spectrum synthetic peptides. Thus, there is hope that they will spawn a new generation of antimicrobials with a broad range of topical and systemic applications against infections.

Genetically Engineered Bacteriocins and their Potential as the Next Generation of Antimicrobials

The discovery of penicillin by Fleming in 1928 was an historical milestone in the fight against infectious disease. Over the following fifty years, pharmaceutical companies discovered and developed over 100 antibiotics effective against a wide range of human pathogens. More recently, the dramatic rise in antibiotic-resistant pathogens has stimulated renewed efforts to identify, develop or redesign antibiotics active against these multi-resistant bacteria. This review focuses on such efforts directed at one large and highly diverse family of toxins, the bacteriocins, which hold great promise as the next generation of antimicrobials. The majority of bacteriocins differ from traditional antibiotics in one critical way: they have a relatively narrow killing spectrum and are, therefore, toxic only to bacteria closely related to the producing strain. Accordingly, they can be considered "designers drugs" that target specific bacterial pathogens. In this review we focus on recent attempts to generate custom designed bacteriocins using genetic engineering techniques. These efforts illustrate the potential of genetically-modified bacteriocins to solve some of the most challenging problems in disease control.

Euroconference on the Biology of Type IV Secretion Processes: bacterial gates into the outer world

Type IV secretion systems (T4SSs) mediate both protein and ssDNA secretion from a wide range of bacteria into virtually any cell type or into the milieu. It is this versatility that confers on them the ability to participate in many processes of bacterial life that imply communication with their environment. Type IV secretion systems are involved in horizontal DNA transfer to other bacteria and to plant cells, in DNA uptake from the milieu, in toxin secretion into the milieu, and in the injection of virulence factors into the eukaryotic host cell in a number of mammalian and plant pathogens. Recently, a EuroConference addressed the different aspects of the biology of these transmembrane multiprotein complexes, from the crystal structure of the individual components to the modification that the secreted substrates induce in the recipient cell. Significant progress has been made in the understanding of the molecular architecture and mechanism of secretion. The analysis of protein-protein interactions confirms the role of coupling proteins as substrate recruiters for the transporter. The VirB10 component of the complex has come up as a strong candidate for signal transducer. The wide range of effects on the recipient suggests that many effector proteins are secreted. New effector proteins are being identified for both plant and animal pathogens, as are their targets within the host cells. New T4SS members are being identified that perform novel roles, beyond DNA transfer and virulence, such as establishment of symbiotic processes. Our current knowledge of the Biology of Type IV Secretion Processes increases our ability to exploit them as biotechnological tools or to use them as new targets for inhibitors that could constitute a new generation of antimicrobials in the near future.

Stratégies pour la recherche de gènes de virulence chez les bactéries pathogènes

One of the recent preoccupations of medical microbiology has been to characterise the mechanisms of virulence of bacterial pathogens at the molecular level. One hundred years after Koch, Stanley Falkow proposed a new, molecular version of Koch’s postulates to define a virulence gene: (a) the gene confers a certain phenotype to the studied bacteria, (b) inactivation of the gene abolishes the phenotype, (c) reintroduction of the gene restores the wild type to the mutant. Although this strategy, based upon mutagenesis and the use of experimental models, allows the identification of many genes, it is not comprehensive. Other methods can be used to complete the identification of virulence factors such as differential expression, either at the level of transcription (transcriptome) or at the level of protein expression (proteome). All these techniques are now supported by the data from complete genome sequencing projects. The pool of information obtained from these approaches allows the definition of the ‘virulome’, which is the assembly of factors a pathogen requires for virulence. Understanding the virulome will open the way to the development of new strategies for vaccination or the development of new generation of antimicrobials.

Paying for the next generation of antimicrobials

Paying for the next generation of antimicrobials

Spinal Infections: A Review

Spinal infections continue to be an important source of death and complications in the developing countries. With recent advances in imaging techniques and the advent of a new generation of antimicrobials, there has been a considerable decrease in the incidence. However, there are still many pitfalls in the management of spinal infections. Early diagnosis and use of appropriate antibiotics and surgical instrumentation remain the mainstay of management. Bacterial infections (i.e., pyogenic osteomyelitis, tuberculous spondylitis, and spinal brucellosis) are the most common types seen in the Middle East. Other varieties of vertebral osteomyelitis from viral, fungal, or parasitic organisms are also seen. In this paper the authors review the standard management of spinal infections and briefly overview their experience in dealing with these infections.

Structure–activity relationships of ketolides vs. macrolides

Since their discovery, the macrolide antimicrobials have proved clinically valuable for the treatment of respiratory tract infections, offering coverage against a broad spectrum of pathogens and excellent tolerability. However, the global increase in macrolide resistance among respiratory pathogens, particularly Streptococcus pneumoniae, threatens their future usefulness. The ketolides, of which telithromycin is the first to reach clinical development, represent a new generation of antimicrobials that have been developed with a view to overcoming the problem of macrolide resistance. Telithromycin is structurally derived from macrolides, and possesses several distinguishing features that are important for its improved microbiological profile. The L-cladinose at position C3 of the miacrolactone ring has been replaced with a keto function. This modification enables telithromycin to bind to its target without tripping the inducible resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-streptograminB (MLS(B)) drugs that many groups of pathogens exhibit. The C6 position has been modified by the addition of a methoxy group. This helps prevent hemiketalization of the C6 position with the 3- and 9-keto groups, thereby conferring excellent acid stability, particularly at gastric pH values. Telithromycin is differentiated from other ketolide compounds by the addition of a large aromatic N-substituted carbamate extension from positions C11/C12. This carbamate extension improves binding of the drug to its target, the 50S ribosomal subunit, as demonstrated in in vitro experiments. Telithromycin binds to wild-type ribosomes with 10-fold greater affinity than erythromycin A and 6-fold greater affinity than clarithromycin; its affinity for MLS(B)-resistant ribosomes is > 20 times that of both macrolides. The increased ribosomal affinity of telithromycin correlates with its superior potency against Gram-positive cocci both in vitro and in vivo, and is one of the factors determining the drug's activity against MLS(B)-resistant respiratory pathogens.