Natural Compounds as Antimicrobial Agents

Dear Colleagues,

Since the discovery of antibiotics, these compounds have increased in use for the treatment of human and animal infections. In addition, antibiotics have been and are used for other purposes, such as the control of microbiota in animal production, specific disinfection or in several laboratory procedures. At the end of the past century the emergence of a high number of antimicrobial resistances to a high number of “classic” antibiotics led to the progressive ban of these compounds for other purposes than authorized clinical uses by the authorities. This global emergency has revived the research interest in the so-called natural antimicrobials. These natural compounds can be used not only in some clinical procedures, but mainly as additives in processed food, in active films for food packaging, in animal production, or for specific disinfection procedures. The use of these compounds in the food industry can result in a commercial advantage due to the better perception of consumers with respect to these compounds in comparison with industrially-produced substances. Some of these compounds are essential oils or specific compounds directly derived from several plants, fruits and or spices, and even substances of animal origin, such as propolis, lysozyme or chitosan among others, as well as new compounds that are discovered regularly. Today, many of these compounds have not only been rediscovered, but are also the object of new applications, such as micro-encapsulation, nanoparticles, activity against microbial biofilms, and effects on transcriptomics, and have been discovered for new antifungal or antiviral properties. Thus, this Special Issue will cover, but not limited to:

• new natural antimicrobial compounds
• antimicrobial effects
• clinical applications
• animal production applications
• antifungal properties
• antiviral properties
• food applications
• new formulations
• antibacterial mechanisms
• antifungal mechanisms
• MICs
• combination with other antimicrobials
• global microbiome changes

Despite of the important amount of research that has been carried out on these compounds, the low amount of legal regulation of these substances is leading to a wide number of new applications not previously explored, which we expect will be covered in this issue.

Prof. Dr. Carlos M. Franco
Prof. Dr. Beatriz Vázquez Belda
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.