In the Age of Synthetic Biology, Will Antimicrobial Peptides be the Next Generation of Antibiotics?
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Antibiotics 2020, 9(8), 484; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9080484
Received: 14 July 2020
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Revised: 1 August 2020
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Accepted: 4 August 2020
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Published: 6 August 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Narrow-Spectrum Antibiotics: How Can They Help in the Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance and How Can We Get More of Them?)
Antibiotics have changed human health and revolutionised medical practice since the Second World War. Today, the use of antibiotics is increasingly limited by the rise of antimicrobial-resistant strains. Additionally, broad-spectrum antibiotic activity is not adapted to maintaining a balanced microbiome essential for human health. Targeted antimicrobials could overcome these two drawbacks. Although the rational design of targeted antimicrobial molecules presents a formidable challenge, in nature, targeted genetically encoded killing molecules are used by microbes in their natural ecosystems. The use of a synthetic biology approach allows the harnessing of these natural functions. In this commentary article we illustrate the potential of applying synthetic biology towards bacteriocins to design a new generation of antimicrobials.
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Keywords:
synthetic biology; bacteriocins; antibiotics; antimicrobials
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MDPI and ACS Style
Jaumaux, F.; P. Gómez de Cadiñanos, L.; Gabant, P. In the Age of Synthetic Biology, Will Antimicrobial Peptides be the Next Generation of Antibiotics? Antibiotics 2020, 9, 484. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9080484
AMA Style
Jaumaux F, P. Gómez de Cadiñanos L, Gabant P. In the Age of Synthetic Biology, Will Antimicrobial Peptides be the Next Generation of Antibiotics? Antibiotics. 2020; 9(8):484. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9080484
Chicago/Turabian StyleJaumaux, Félix, Luz P. Gómez de Cadiñanos, and Philippe Gabant. 2020. "In the Age of Synthetic Biology, Will Antimicrobial Peptides be the Next Generation of Antibiotics?" Antibiotics 9, no. 8: 484. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9080484
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