ijms-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Antimicrobial Agents

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Chemistry, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2009) | Viewed by 107465

Special Issue Editor

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Systems Microbiology Research Center, Deajeon 305-806, Korea
Interests: bioinformatics; database development; comparative genomics; cheminformatics; molecular modeling; computer aided drug design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Antibiotics can be defined as low-molecular weight substances that have a cidal (killing) effect or a static (inhibitory) effect on a range of microbes, as secondary metabolites by certain groups of microorganisms.

The modern era of antimicrobial chemotherapy began in 1929 with Fleming’s discovery of the powerful bacteriocidal substrance penicillin G from Pennicilium notatum, and Domagk’s discovery in 1935 of synthetic chemicals (sulfonamides) with broad antimicrobial activity.

The most important property of an antimicrobial agent, from the standpoint of host, is its selective toxicity, i.e., the agent acts in some way that inhibits or kills bacterial pathogens but has little or no toxic effect on the host. Until these days, many efforts have been invested in development of new powerful antibiotics with specific narrow spectrum. In the consequence of growing problems of pathogenic organism which are resistant to conventional antibiotics, however, development of new class of antibiotics has become strongly required.

In the past 15 years, hundreds of antimicrobial agents have been isolated from a wide variety of plants, invertebrates, amphibians, and mammals, as well as bacteria and fungi. The widespread occurrence of these antimicrobial agents suggests a key role in host defense. Antimicrobial agent whose main advantage are as factors of innate immunity so that they can promptly synthesized upon induction as low molecular cost, can be easily stored in a large amount, and act against invasion by occasional and obligate pathogens.

Computational advances in structure based drug design are presented which emphasize the development of protocols and methodology used in force-field parameterization, scoring function development, structure prediction and validation, and docking.

Computational chemistry and molecular modeling are the science of representing molecular structures numerically and simulating their behavior with the equations of quantum and classical physics. Molecular modeling was extended to wide concept that design new antimicrobial agent through that predicted three-dimension structure of molecule and property of antimicrobial agent by theoretical calculation.

Dooil Kim, Ph.D.
Guest Editor

Keywords

  • antibiotic resistance
  • pathogen
  • lead compound
  • secondary metabolites (such as tannins, terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids)
  • phytochemicals

Published Papers (5 papers)

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

Research

Jump to: Review

374 KiB  
Article
Genetic Exchange of Multidrug Efflux Pumps among Two Enterobacterial Species with Distinctive Ecological Niches
by Nehaya Al-Karablieh, Helge Weingart and Matthias S. Ullrich
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10(2), 629-645; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms10020629 - 19 Feb 2009
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 10987
Abstract
AcrAB-TolC is the major multidrug efflux system in Enterobacteriaceae recognizing structurally unrelated molecules including antibiotics, dyes, and detergents. Additionally, in Escherichia coli it mediates resistance to bile salts. In the plant pathogen Erwinia amylovora AcrAB-TolC is required for virulence and phytoalexin resistance. Exchange [...] Read more.
AcrAB-TolC is the major multidrug efflux system in Enterobacteriaceae recognizing structurally unrelated molecules including antibiotics, dyes, and detergents. Additionally, in Escherichia coli it mediates resistance to bile salts. In the plant pathogen Erwinia amylovora AcrAB-TolC is required for virulence and phytoalexin resistance. Exchange analysis of AcrAB-TolC was conducted by complementing mutants of both species defective in acrB or tolC with alleles from either species. The acrB and tolC mutants exhibited increased susceptibility profiles for 24 different antibiotics. All mutants were complemented with acrAB or tolC, respectively, regardless of the taxonomic origin of the alleles. Importantly, complementation of E. amylovora mutants with respective E. coli genes restored virulence on apple plants. It was concluded that AcrAB and TolC of both species could interact and that these interactions did not yield in altered functions despite the divergent ecological niches, to which E. coli and E. amylovora have adopted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Agents)
Show Figures

Review

Jump to: Research

176 KiB  
Review
Host Defense Peptides as Effector Molecules of the Innate Immune Response: A Sledgehammer for Drug Resistance?
by Lars Steinstraesser, Ursula M. Kraneburg, Tobias Hirsch, Marco Kesting, Hans-Ulrich Steinau, Frank Jacobsen and Sammy Al-Benna
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10(9), 3951-3970; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms10093951 - 09 Sep 2009
Cited by 78 | Viewed by 14400
Abstract
Host defense peptides can modulate the innate immune response and boost infection-resolving immunity, while dampening potentially harmful pro-inflammatory (septic) responses. Both antimicrobial and/or immunomodulatory activities are an integral part of the process of innate immunity, which itself has many of the hallmarks of [...] Read more.
Host defense peptides can modulate the innate immune response and boost infection-resolving immunity, while dampening potentially harmful pro-inflammatory (septic) responses. Both antimicrobial and/or immunomodulatory activities are an integral part of the process of innate immunity, which itself has many of the hallmarks of successful anti-infective therapies, namely rapid action and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities. This gives these peptides the potential to become an entirely new therapeutic approach against bacterial infections. This review details the role and activities of these peptides, and examines their applicability as development candidates for use against bacterial infections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Agents)
143 KiB  
Review
The Role of Probiotics in the Poultry Industry
by S. M. Lutful Kabir
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10(8), 3531-3546; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms10083531 - 12 Aug 2009
Cited by 384 | Viewed by 34411
Abstract
The increase of productivity in the poultry industry has been accompanied by various impacts, including emergence of a large variety of pathogens and bacterial resistance. These impacts are in part due to the indiscriminate use of chemotherapeutic agents as a result of management [...] Read more.
The increase of productivity in the poultry industry has been accompanied by various impacts, including emergence of a large variety of pathogens and bacterial resistance. These impacts are in part due to the indiscriminate use of chemotherapeutic agents as a result of management practices in rearing cycles. This review provides a summary of the use of probiotics for prevention of bacterial diseases in poultry, as well as demonstrating the potential role of probiotics in the growth performance and immune response of poultry, safety and wholesomeness of dressed poultry meat evidencing consumer’s protection, with a critical evaluation of results obtained to date. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Agents)
Show Figures

288 KiB  
Review
Plant Antimicrobial Agents and Their Effects on Plant and Human Pathogens
by Rocío González-Lamothe, Gabriel Mitchell, Mariza Gattuso, Moussa S. Diarra, François Malouin and Kamal Bouarab
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10(8), 3400-3419; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms10083400 - 31 Jul 2009
Cited by 273 | Viewed by 25385
Abstract
To protect themselves, plants accumulate an armoury of antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Some metabolites represent constitutive chemical barriers to microbial attack (phytoanticipins) and others inducible antimicrobials (phytoalexins). They are extensively studied as promising plant and human disease-controlling agents. This review discusses the bioactivity of [...] Read more.
To protect themselves, plants accumulate an armoury of antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Some metabolites represent constitutive chemical barriers to microbial attack (phytoanticipins) and others inducible antimicrobials (phytoalexins). They are extensively studied as promising plant and human disease-controlling agents. This review discusses the bioactivity of several phytoalexins and phytoanticipins defending plants against fungal and bacterial aggressors and those with antibacterial activities against pathogens affecting humans such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus involved in respiratory infections of cystic fibrosis patients. The utility of plant products as “antibiotic potentiators” and “virulence attenuators” is also described as well as some biotechnological applications in phytoprotection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Agents)
Show Figures

265 KiB  
Review
Protease Inhibitors from Plants with Antimicrobial Activity
by Jin-Young Kim, Seong-Cheol Park, Indeok Hwang, Hyeonsook Cheong, Jae-Woon Nah, Kyung-Soo Hahm and Yoonkyung Park
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10(6), 2860-2872; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms10062860 - 23 Jun 2009
Cited by 173 | Viewed by 21621
Abstract
Antimicrobial proteins (peptides) are known to play important roles in the innate host defense mechanisms of most living organisms, including plants, insects, amphibians and mammals. They are also known to possess potent antibiotic activity against bacteria, fungi, and even certain viruses. Recently, the [...] Read more.
Antimicrobial proteins (peptides) are known to play important roles in the innate host defense mechanisms of most living organisms, including plants, insects, amphibians and mammals. They are also known to possess potent antibiotic activity against bacteria, fungi, and even certain viruses. Recently, the rapid emergence of microbial pathogens that are resistant to currently available antibiotics has triggered considerable interest in the isolation and investigation of the mode of action of antimicrobial proteins (peptides). Plants produce a variety of proteins (peptides) that are involved in the defense against pathogens and invading organisms, including ribosome-inactivating proteins, lectins, protease inhibitors and antifungal peptides (proteins). Specially, the protease inhibitors can inhibit aspartic, serine and cysteine proteinases. Increased levels of trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors correlated with the plants resistance to the pathogen. Usually, the purification of antimicrobial proteins (peptides) with protease inhibitor activity was accomplished by salt-extraction, ultrafiltration and C18 reverse phase chromatography, successfully. We discuss the relation between antimicrobial and anti-protease activity in this review. Protease inhibitors from plants potently inhibited the growth of a variety of pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains and are therefore excellent candidates for use as the lead compounds for the development of novel antimicrobial agents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Agents)
Show Figures

Back to TopTop