10th Anniversary of Antibiotics—New Resources and Strategies in the Search for Antimicrobials

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "The Global Need for Effective Antibiotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 17951

Special Issue Editors

Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, Food Science and Technology Faculty, University of Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain
Interests: agro-environmental; food chemistry; sustainable primary production; food quality and safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Interests: natural bioactive compounds; medicinal chemistry; bioactivity and toxicology; functional applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Vigo, E-32004 Ourense, Spain
Interests: food chemistry; food technology; bioactive compounds; analytical techniques; natural food products; natural cosmetics; emergent technologies; green processes; sustainability; bioinformatics; chemical engineering; synergy; antagonism; natural and synthetic antioxidants; mathematical modeling; biological responses; toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The threat posed by infections arising from antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms is a global concern. Despite this trend, the future development of new antimicrobial agents is currently very uncertain, and there is a need for antimicrobials, as any substance of natural, semisynthetic or synthetic origin that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms but causes little or no damage to the host. They are antibiotic (also termed antibacterial), antifungal and antiparasitic drugs, or antiviral compounds. The main mechanisms of antimicrobial action, amongst other, are agents that inhibit cell wall synthesis, depolarize the cell membrane, inhibit protein synthesis, inhibit nuclei acid synthesis, and inhibit metabolic pathways in microorganisms. Both exploring new resources and strategies will be important to ensure that antimicrobial agents are developed in the decades to come is the main goal of this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Jesus Simal-Gandara
Prof. Dr. Lillian Barros
Prof. Dr. Miguel A. Prieto Lage
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. 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.

Keywords

  • Antimicrobial
  • Antibacterial
  • Antifungal
  • Antiparasitic
  • Antiviral
  • New resources
  • New strategies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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25 pages, 3209 KiB  
Review
Looking Back to Amycolatopsis: History of the Antibiotic Discovery and Future Prospects
by Olga V. Kisil, Tatiana A. Efimenko and Olga V. Efremenkova
Antibiotics 2021, 10(10), 1254; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10101254 - 15 Oct 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3852
Abstract
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria in recent decades leads us to an urgent need for the development of new antibacterial agents. The species of the genus Amycolatopsis are known as producers of secondary metabolites that are used in medicine and agriculture. The [...] Read more.
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria in recent decades leads us to an urgent need for the development of new antibacterial agents. The species of the genus Amycolatopsis are known as producers of secondary metabolites that are used in medicine and agriculture. The complete genome sequences of the Amycolatopsis demonstrate a wide variety of biosynthetic gene clusters, which highlights the potential ability of actinomycetes of this genus to produce new antibiotics. In this review, we summarize information about antibiotics produced by Amycolatopsis species. This knowledge demonstrates the prospects for further study of this genus as an enormous source of antibiotics. Full article
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15 pages, 333 KiB  
Review
The Extremophilic Actinobacteria: From Microbes to Medicine
by Martha Lok-Yung Hui, Loh Teng-Hern Tan, Vengadesh Letchumanan, Ya-Wen He, Chee-Mun Fang, Kok-Gan Chan, Jodi Woan-Fei Law and Learn-Han Lee
Antibiotics 2021, 10(6), 682; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10060682 - 08 Jun 2021
Cited by 42 | Viewed by 6275
Abstract
Actinobacteria constitute prolific sources of novel and vital bioactive metabolites for pharmaceutical utilization. In recent years, research has focused on exploring actinobacteria that thrive in extreme conditions to unearth their beneficial bioactive compounds for natural product drug discovery. Natural products have a significant [...] Read more.
Actinobacteria constitute prolific sources of novel and vital bioactive metabolites for pharmaceutical utilization. In recent years, research has focused on exploring actinobacteria that thrive in extreme conditions to unearth their beneficial bioactive compounds for natural product drug discovery. Natural products have a significant role in resolving public health issues such as antibiotic resistance and cancer. The breakthrough of new technologies has overcome the difficulties in sampling and culturing extremophiles, leading to the outpouring of more studies on actinobacteria from extreme environments. This review focuses on the diversity and bioactive potentials/medically relevant biomolecules of extremophilic actinobacteria found from various unique and extreme niches. Actinobacteria possess an excellent capability to produce various enzymes and secondary metabolites to combat harsh conditions. In particular, a few strains have displayed substantial antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), shedding light on the development of MRSA-sensitive antibiotics. Several strains exhibited other prominent bioactivities such as antifungal, anti-HIV, anticancer, and anti-inflammation. By providing an overview of the recently found extremophilic actinobacteria and their important metabolites, we hope to enhance the understanding of their potential for the medical world. Full article

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15 pages, 1390 KiB  
Perspective
Bacterial Natural Product Drug Discovery for New Antibiotics: Strategies for Tackling the Problem of Antibiotic Resistance by Efficient Bioprospecting
by Yannik K. Schneider
Antibiotics 2021, 10(7), 842; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10070842 - 10 Jul 2021
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 6793
Abstract
The problem of antibiotic resistance has become a challenge for our public health and society; it has allowed infectious diseases to re-emerge as a risk to human health. New antibiotics that are introduced to the market face the rise of resistant pathogens after [...] Read more.
The problem of antibiotic resistance has become a challenge for our public health and society; it has allowed infectious diseases to re-emerge as a risk to human health. New antibiotics that are introduced to the market face the rise of resistant pathogens after a certain period of use. The relatively fast development of resistance against some antibiotics seems to be closely linked to their microbial origin and function in nature. Antibiotics in clinical use are merely products of microorganisms or derivatives of microbial products. The evolution of these antimicrobial compounds has progressed with the evolution of the respective resistance mechanisms in microbes for billions of years. Thus, antimicrobial resistance genes are present within the environment and can be taken up by pathogens through horizontal gene transfer. Natural products from bacteria are an important source of leads for drug development, and microbial natural products have contributed the most antibiotics in current clinical use. Bioprospecting for new antibiotics is a labor-intensive task as obstacles such as redetection of known compounds and low compound yields consume significant resources. The number of bacterial isolates one can theoretically investigate for new secondary metabolites is, on the other hand, immense. Therefore, the available capacity for biodiscovery should be focused on the most promising sources for chemical novelty and bioactivity, employing the appropriate scientific tools. This can be done by first looking into under- or unexplored environments for bacterial isolates and by focusing on the promising candidates to reduce the number of subjects. Full article
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