ijms-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Special Issue "Novel Mechanisms of Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance and Strategies to Fight Them"

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2023 | Viewed by 677

Special Issue Editors

Department of Structural and Chemical Biology, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Ramiro de Maeztu, 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: biomolecular interactions and recognition; bacterial division; bacterial membraneless compartments; bacterial transcriptional regulation; essential molecular machines; bottom-up synthetic biology; fluorescence spectroscopy; macromolecular crowding
Department of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Milan, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 25, 20133 Milano, Italy
Interests: drug discovery; medicinal chemistry; structure activity relationship; development of novel antimicrobials; FtsZ inhibitors; RNPA inhibitors; inhibition of bacterial cellular division process
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Structural and Chemical Biology, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Ramiro de Maeztu, 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: macromolecular interactions; phase separation and microenvironments; cytometric membrane models; bacterial division; structural organization of molecular machineries; biomolecular condensates; macromolecular crowding; microfluidics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The discovery of antibiotics represented a substantial and significant improvement in our quality of life. Unfortunately, soon after the first antibiotic was available, bacteria surviving treatment emerged and, nowadays, resistant species can be found for almost all antibiotics, posing a growing threat to modern medicine. Moreover, multidrug-resistant bacteria are coming into play and there is increasing evidence supporting connections between bacterial infections and development of serious illnesses, such as cancer or neurodegeneration. Consequently, the scientific community is becoming more and more concerned about the need of finding new ways to fight harmful bacteria. Initiatives aiming at this end are progressively concentrating research efforts. On a broader level, involving all relevant sectors, several lines of action are being undertaken within the human-animal-environment axis in the context of One Health.

This Special Issue will be focused on the description of mechanisms used by bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance or tolerate antibiotic treatment, particularly those poorly known and/or newly proposed. Manuscripts dealing with the elucidation of crucial molecular interactions involved in essential processes for bacterial survival and proliferation, or with the development of systematic assays applicable in the quest for modulators of these interactions will also be very welcome. Submissions coming from researchers working on the development of new molecules or on the repurposing of already available compounds, reaching activity-improvement, are also expected. Articles addressing less explored approaches to fight bacterial infections, such as the use of combinations of synergic drugs, alternatives to drugs as proteins or peptides from different sources, or strategies to facilitate the access of drugs to their targets, will be also in line with the topic of this Special Issue. Original research articles, reviews, short communications or methodological reports and perspective, opinion, or commentary articles are most welcome.

Dr. Silvia Zorrilla
Dr. Valentina Straniero
Dr. Begoña Monterroso
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 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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.

Keywords

  • molecular mechanisms of antibacterial resistance
  • essential bacterial processes
  • bacterial tolerance to antibiotics
  • emerging antibiotic targets
  • screening procedures
  • antimicrobials
  • target validation
  • drug discovery
  • drug repurposing
  • medicinal chemistry

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Drug Repositioning as a Therapeutic Strategy against Streptococcus pneumoniae: Cell Membrane as Potential Target
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(6), 5831; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065831 - 18 Mar 2023
Viewed by 382
Abstract
A collection of repurposing drugs (Prestwick Chemical Library) containing 1200 compounds was screened to investigate the drugs’ antimicrobial effects against planktonic cultures of the respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. After four discrimination rounds, a set of seven compounds was finally selected, namely (i) [...] Read more.
A collection of repurposing drugs (Prestwick Chemical Library) containing 1200 compounds was screened to investigate the drugs’ antimicrobial effects against planktonic cultures of the respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. After four discrimination rounds, a set of seven compounds was finally selected, namely (i) clofilium tosylate; (ii) vanoxerine; (iii) mitoxantrone dihydrochloride; (iv) amiodarone hydrochloride; (v) tamoxifen citrate; (vi) terfenadine; and (vii) clomiphene citrate (Z, E). These molecules arrested pneumococcal growth in a liquid medium and induced a decrease in bacterial viability between 90.0% and 99.9% at 25 µM concentration, with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) also in the micromolar range. Moreover, all compounds but mitoxantrone caused a remarkable increase in the permeability of the bacterial membrane and share a common, minimal chemical structure consisting of an aliphatic amine linked to a phenyl moiety via a short carbon/oxygen linker. These results open new possibilities to tackle pneumococcal disease through drug repositioning and provide clues for the design of novel membrane-targeted antimicrobials with a related chemical structure. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop