Design and Discovery of New Antibacterial Agents: Past, Evolution, and Perspectives

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Novel Antimicrobial Agents".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2024 | Viewed by 1952

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Dipartimento di Farmacia, Scienze del Farmaco, Università di Bari, Bari, Italy
Interests: antibacterials; antifungals; antitumor agents; medicinal chemistry; toxicology; small molecules; antimyotonic agents
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Millions of human lives are being saved annually throughout the world because of antibiotics, be they natural (i.e., produced by microorganisms in their own habitat) or of synthetic origin. However, concern about antibacterial resistance increased in the late 1990s, and since then, many governmental and agency reports have advised decreasing use of antibacterials, appropriate choice of antibacterials and regimens, prevention of cross-infection, and development of new antibacterials. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this phenomenon, leading to critical conditions in several cases. The dearth of new medicines effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria represents a growing global public health concern. The discovery and development of new antibiotics is urgently needed. This Special Issue invites manuscript submissions (research articles or reviews) to enlighten the scientific community on recent studies regarding the synthesis and/or biological evaluation of new antibacterial agents. In vitro and in vivo studies are encouraged, as well as papers regarding clinical studies, molecular modeling studies, ADMET studies, nanotechnology-based innovation, biomaterials, nanomaterials, hybrid materials, core–shell materials, thin films, and self-assembling systems for the development of new antibiotics. We are particularly interested in receiving manuscript from the academic community as well as contributions from the industry.

Prof. Dr. Alessia Catalano
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • antibacterial resistance
  • antibiotics
  • antibiofilm
  • antibacterial therapies
  • combinational therapies
  • nanomaterials
  • drug discovery
  • antibacterial strategies
  • natural antibacterials
  • synthetic antibacterials
  • wound healing

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 3718 KiB  
Article
Identification of Acetomycin as an Antifungal Agent Produced by Termite Gut-Associated Streptomycetes against Pyrrhoderma noxium
by Cherrihan Adra, Trong D. Tran, Keith Foster, Russell Tomlin and D. İpek Kurtböke
Antibiotics 2024, 13(1), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13010045 - 3 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1591
Abstract
Plant fungal pathogen Pyrrhoderma noxium is responsible for the destructive and invasive disease of brown root rot currently affecting the city of Brisbane, Australia. In order to address this issue, environmentally friendly and safe alternatives to chemical control are preferred due to the [...] Read more.
Plant fungal pathogen Pyrrhoderma noxium is responsible for the destructive and invasive disease of brown root rot currently affecting the city of Brisbane, Australia. In order to address this issue, environmentally friendly and safe alternatives to chemical control are preferred due to the city’s public setting. Antifungal natural products are ideal candidates as biological control alternatives and can be detected through investigating the metabolomes of microbial symbionts. Within this study, an NMR-based metabolomics approach was applied to fermentation extracts obtained from 15 termite gut-associated streptomycetes. By analysing the NMR spectra, six of the extracts which displayed similar chemical profiles exhibited antifungal activity against the P. noxium pathogen. The major compound within these extracts was identified as acetomycin using NMR and X-ray crystallography analyses. This is the first reporting of acetomycin as a potential natural product fungicide, particularly as an antifungal agent against P. noxium. Inhibitory activity was also found against other important fungal crop pathogens, including Aspergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea, and Alteranaria alternata. Further experimentation using a woodblock test found inhibitory activity on the growth of the P. noxium pathogen for up to 3 weeks and a significant difference in the integrity of the woodblocks when conducting compression strength tests after 6 weeks. Therefore, acetomycin may be used as a biological control agent and natural product fungicide against P. noxium. Full article
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