Resistant Bacteria: Molecular Studies and Antimicrobial Resistance

Dear Colleagues,

Although the availability and use of antibiotics represented one of the most outstanding achievements of humanity at the beginning of the 20th century, enabling the control of bacterial diseases considered deadly in the pre-antibiotic era, the emergence of resistant bacteria, often called "superbugs," now represents a source of concern in both animal and human clinical practice. The first reports of antibiotic-resistant bacteria date from the beginning of the clinical use of these compounds in the first half of the 20th century. The concern about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) had already been announced by the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, in December 1945, in his Nobel Prize speech. Antibiotic resistance occurs through different mechanisms and represents a response that the bacterial population develops to a selective pressure imposed by the drug. In this regard, individuals who can survive the compound have a greater chance of being selected (in an evolutionary context) and, later, developing in sub-populations resistant to the antibiotic in question. In this current context, besides the studies to determine new molecular targets and new antimicrobial drugs, the mitigation of the AMR crisis also becomes essential for the present and future control of bacterial pathogens presenting resistance to multiple drugs. The relevance of AMR is highlighted in a recent WHO report (New report calls for urgent action to avert antimicrobial resistance crisis, April 29, 2019), predicting that diseases caused by drug-resistant microorganisms could cause 10 million deaths each year by 2050.

This Special Issue titled "Resistant Bacteria: Molecular Studies and Antimicrobial Resistance" aims to bring together relevant articles in this area of research, in particular, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis;
• Mitigation of antimicrobial resistance;
• AMR: molecular mechanisms;
• Antimicrobial activity studies;
• Identification and characterization of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains, including sequence analyses;
• Prioritization of molecular targets in MDR strains;
• Analyses of resistance genes and proteins;
• Molecular target in vivo, in vitro or in silico analyses;
• New anti-MDR antibiotics/drugs;
• Antimicrobial antibodies;
• One Health approach;
• Nanoparticles and drug delivery of novel antimicrobials.

Dr. Marisa Fabiana Nicolás
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
• antibiotics
• multidrug-resistant bacteria
• molecular targets
• antimicrobial antibodies
• One Health
• mitigation of AMR