AUTHOR=Munir Asma , Vedithi Sundeep Chaitanya , Chaplin Amanda K. , Blundell Tom L. 

TITLE=Genomics, Computational Biology and Drug Discovery for Mycobacterial Infections: Fighting the Emergence of Resistance

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2020.00965

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2020.00965

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>Tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy are mycobacterial infections caused by <italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</italic> and <italic>Mycobacterium leprae</italic> respectively. These diseases continue to be endemic in developing countries where the cost of new medicines presents major challenges. The situation is further exacerbated by the emergence of resistance to many front-line antibiotics. A priority now is to design new antimycobacterials that are not only effective in combatting the diseases but are also less likely to give rise to resistance. In both these respects understanding the structure of drug targets in <italic>M. tuberculosis</italic> and <italic>M. leprae</italic> is crucial. In this review we describe structure-guided approaches to understanding the impacts of mutations that give rise to antimycobacterial resistance and the use of this information in the design of new medicines.</p>