Special Issue "Microbial Resistance Mechanisms"
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Microbiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2023 | Viewed by 3252
Special Issue Editor
Interests: clinical biochemistry; anticancer drugs; cytotoxicity; gene expression; drugs diffusion; new antibacterial agents; host–pathogen interactions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
With the dramatic increase in antibiotic resistance in microbes, new knowledge regarding the mechanisms of this drug resistance is important for the development of novel therapies. These microbial resistance mechanisms focus on the modification of a drug target, its uptake limiting, and active efflux from microbial cells. Moreover, in many clinical settings, a biofilm represents a hazardous problem concerning many chronic infections involving these consortia of microbial cells enclosed by a polysaccharide matrix. A biofilm structure protects against antimicrobial agents and can stimulate their resistance mechanisms. The need for new knowledge regarding microbial resistance mechanisms seems crucial and is required for novel antibacterial agent design and applications. In an attempt to gather recent advances in this field, I aim to edit a Special Issue in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IF: 5.924) concerning “Microbial Resistance Mechanisms”. This Special Issue focuses on the molecular studies of microbial resistance mechanisms of planktonic or biofilm-forming cells, which might be considered as targets for new drugs action. These two topics of study are welcomed.
Dr. Michał Arabski
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- antibiotic resistance
- virulence factors
- biofilm
- antimicrobial agents
- peptides
- bacteriophages
- lytic proteins
- metal complexes
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: In-host evolution of a recalcitrant /Mammaliicoccus fleurettii /associated to a prosthetic joint selects for increased aggregative phenotype and impaired toxin production
Author: Dr. Alessandro Bidossi
The article describes the in-host evolution of a zoonotic implant infection. We describe an important mutation in a global regulator, its phenotypic traits and compare two isolates (before and after the host adaptation) by analyzing the gene expression in relevant physiological fluids.
Title: Heterologous expression reveals ancient properties of Tei3 – a VanS orthologue from teicoplanin producer Actinoplanes teichomyceticus
Authors: Oleksandr Yushchuk, Ksenia Zhukrovska, Bohdan Ostash, Victor Fedorenko and Flavia Marinelli
Abstract: Glycopeptide antibiotics (GPAs) are among the most clinically successful antimicrobials. Strong lipid II binders, GPAs inhibit cell-wall biosynthesis in Gram-positive bacteria. Natural GPAs are produced by various actinomycetes, also Gram-positive. As a result, GPA-producers evolved sophisticated mechanisms of self-resistance to avoid suicide during antibiotic production. Good knowledge of these mechanisms is important since GPA-producers likely serve as a primary source of GPA-resistance genes for pathogens. GPA-resistance mechanisms in Actinoplanes teichomyceticus – producer of the last-resort-drug teicoplanin – were intensively studied in recent years, leaving questions about the certain properties of Tei3 sensor histidine kinase. In current work we aim to investigate molecular properties of Tei3. By creating a GPA-sensitive assay-system in model Streptomyces coelicolor, we showed that Tei3 functions as a non-inducible kinase, explaining high levels of GPA-resistance in A. teichomyceticus. Then, expression of different truncated versions of tei3 in S. coelicolor demonstrated that transmembrane helices of Tei3 are crucial for proper functioning. Finally, we created a hybrid gene coding for a protein combining Tei3 sensor-domain and VanS (inducible Tei3 orthologue from S. coelicolor) kinase-domain. Surprisingly, such a hybrid was sensitive not to teicoplanin, but to related A40926. Coupling these experimental results with further in silico analysis, we propose a scenario of how GPA-resistance and biosynthetic genes co-evolved in A. teichomyceticus.