Quinolones: Mechanism, Lethality and Their Contributions to Antibiotic Resistance
Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
Academic Editor: Derek J. McPhee
Molecules 2020, 25(23), 5662; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25235662
Received: 27 October 2020 / Revised: 27 November 2020 / Accepted: 28 November 2020 / Published: 1 December 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quinolones: Chemistry and Biological Activities)
Fluoroquinolones (FQs) are arguably among the most successful antibiotics of recent times. They have enjoyed over 30 years of clinical usage and become essential tools in the armoury of clinical treatments. FQs target the bacterial enzymes DNA gyrase and DNA topoisomerase IV, where they stabilise a covalent enzyme-DNA complex in which the DNA is cleaved in both strands. This leads to cell death and turns out to be a very effective way of killing bacteria. However, resistance to FQs is increasingly problematic, and alternative compounds are urgently needed. Here, we review the mechanisms of action of FQs and discuss the potential pathways leading to cell death. We also discuss quinolone resistance and how quinolone treatment can lead to resistance to non-quinolone antibiotics.
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Keywords:
fluoroquinolones; DNA gyrase; topoisomerases; antibacterials; DNA topology; supercoiling; antibiotic resistance
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Bush, N.G.; Diez-Santos, I.; Abbott, L.R.; Maxwell, A. Quinolones: Mechanism, Lethality and Their Contributions to Antibiotic Resistance. Molecules 2020, 25, 5662. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25235662
AMA Style
Bush NG, Diez-Santos I, Abbott LR, Maxwell A. Quinolones: Mechanism, Lethality and Their Contributions to Antibiotic Resistance. Molecules. 2020; 25(23):5662. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25235662
Chicago/Turabian StyleBush, Natassja G.; Diez-Santos, Isabel; Abbott, Lauren R.; Maxwell, Anthony. 2020. "Quinolones: Mechanism, Lethality and Their Contributions to Antibiotic Resistance" Molecules 25, no. 23: 5662. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25235662
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