Novel Antimicrobial Agents to Inhibit Microbial Conglomerates

Dear Colleagues，

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is becoming a serious global threat, pushing microbiologists to search for novel antimicrobials and antimicrobial alternatives. With this rising resistance against conventional antibiotics, there is an urgent need for alternative ways to fight bacterial infection. This problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is further heightened as pathogens grow as conglomerates. This mass gathering lifestyle of pathogens is often referred to as biofilm, wherein the pathogens coat themselves with a combination of sugars, creating an exopolysaccharide matrix that aids them in adhering to biological or non-biological surfaces. The biofilm matrix aids in inter- and intra-kingdom communication, which enhances pathogenicity and prevents antibiotics from reaching the cells engulfed inside the matrix. This makes the pathogens inside the biofilm 100 times more drug-resistant when compared to their planktonic counterparts. Currently, several studies report on the repurposing of existing drugs in combination with biofilm-disrupting agents, yet pathogens seem to be gaining the upper hand. Thus, this Special Issue focuses on unearthing novel antimicrobials from different sources and finding novel approaches to dismantle biofilms. Combinatorial chemistry approaches for antimicrobial and anti-infectives are also welcome. Topics of interest include:

• Novel culturing methods to unearth novel antibiofilm compounds;
• Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to design antimicrobial peptides against drug-resistant pathogens;
• ‘Omics’ techniques involved in mining antibiotic genes from Eubacteria and Archaebacteria;
• Novel quorum sensing inhibitors;
• Rationale designing of biofilm-disrupting enzymes;
• Biofilm inhibitors from marine bacteria and marine natural compounds;
• Traditional culinary herbs, spices and desert plants of India and Israel as a source of novel antibiofilm compounds;
• The antimicrobial potential of microbial and plant volatiles;
• Discovering novel antifungal/antibiofilm agents against drug-resistant Candida;
• Drug formulations, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics of antibiofilm agents;
• Antimicrobials for viral-infection-associated co-bacterial infections.

 Scope of the topic:

This topic fits very well within the scope of the journal Antibiotics as it invites a wide collection of papers on novel antimicrobials that act on biofilms. As one of the topics is antimicrobials from Archaebacteria, antimicrobial/antibiofilm compounds from extremophiles are anticipated to attract a wide readership.

Prof. Dr. Paramasivam Nithyanand
Prof. Dr. Shunmugiah Karutha Pandian
Dr. Wilson Santhosh Kumar Aruni
Prof. Dr. Ariel Kushmaro
Guest Editors

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